This weekend has been an improvement on Friday, which was a worse end to a bad week. We actually finally managed to buy camping chairs, so if the weather's good we'll be able to take them to next year's food and wine festivals. We also went to the British food importers and bought Batchelor's vegetarian Bolognese mix (good easy meal when served over pasta or spaetzle), crumble and dumpling mixes (so we had dumplings with the stew I made today; yum), potato crisps of unusual flavour (Worcestershire sauce, pickled onions), and assorted sweets. Greg got liquorice, aniseed, and strong mint, and I got a bag of Mars planets, which I've already consumed. I should have got more. They also had chocolate oranges, and I'd have bought some if I hadn't already got six from New World. At least there's a chance I can buy more there later.

Tonight we watched the latest SGU ep. Ooh, interesting developments! I can't wait to see what happens.

We also watched the animated Doctor Who. The animation was a bit clunky, and you could tell when each original short instalment ended with a cliff-hanger, but it might have made a fairly decent ep with live action.

Crap. It was hot and sticky and now it's winter again with torrential rain. Which of course means that this room is leaking.

I got soaked today, I can't find anyone who sells liquid castile soap (because I want to try not using shampoo), it looks like they no longer make my favourite snack (salsa cassava chips), a bitch driving a tank parked so close to my car I had a hard time getting in (while getting soaked) while she sat there and watched, and I put the ice cream in the fridge instead of the freezer last night. And the book I'm reading really isn't cheering me up at all.

I'm so pissed off. I want something to go right. I want something fun to look forward to.

There was a clue in yesterday's crossword that made me smile:

11 across: 5-1 and it's all over for the football team.

( And the answer is... )

The weather's so humid I decided not to even bother trying to tame my hair because it will only curl and stick out anyway--and it went wild and out as far as my shoulders. I looked like azdak's default Music II icon, which I'll try to show you here. LJ's fiddling with Scrapbook and userpics, so this may not work.



What was much more upsetting is that I looked disturbingly like my mother. DO NOT WANT. So I gave in and straightened it just now and I look like me again. I know kerravonsen thought I should let it do its own thing when she was here, but not when I see my mother in the mirror. :-P

I used the challenge of last month's picowrimo to write the fourth part of my Lynx series, also known as The Big PGP. My thanks as ever go to my excellent beta-reader, astrogirl2, who found things I am ashamed to have missed. The story is on my site's fiction page, with the previous three parts in the series, and I will also load it onto the Hip Deep in Heroes archive, probably tomorrow.
[Edit] And done. I also set it up properly as a series, which meant reloading two of the stories.

Lynx Part 1 - Rescues
Lynx Part 2 - Recovery
Lynx Part 3 - Revelations
Lynx Part 4 - Recollection

There is one more part to go. I'll get there!

Time for a catch-up, I suppose. I succeeded in writing a story for picowrimo which I'll post in the next few days. It's the fourth instalment to my Lynx series, and is pretty standalone, being mostly about Soolin's mutoid sister.

I really should try to keep writing and finally exorcise the stories in my head so I can do something new (to me, anyway).

We went out to dinner on Sunday (excellent Italian) and Greg was annoyed that his new credit card didn't work. The bank had sent him a new one because he'd used it in a city parking building which was hacked into recently, and he thought they hadn't activated it. They had, actually, as he found when he rang them. He'd carefully cut up the new card. :-P

December already; I'm glad I don't have all the stress others do having to buy gifts and organise massive feasts. I've decided that I won't send out fannish cards this year as it gets quite expensive; I'll just draw and post a picture if I can think of one.

I got hold of a book gair mentioned a while back, Magnifi-Cat by Carolyn and Edmund Sheehan, and sobbed shamelessly. Well, maybe not shamelessly. I think it brought up lots of past grief about pets even though it was meant, at least the parts set in heaven, as gentle comedy.

I still feel very down about not having a proper job. I have no idea what to do about that. Sigh.

I hate weather like this. It's so sticky (100% humidity) I have hardly got the energy to move, and when I went out before, my hair frizzed and stuck out as if I'd been dragged through a hedge backwards. I normally don't mind myself from the neck up (the rest being rubbish) but curly hair and shiny red cheeks? Ugh. I feel as wilted as a piece of cooked lettuce.

I know I haven't posted much lately, but my life is so depressing and boring, I really haven't much to say. We did go to a place called Martha's Backyard (a US importer) in the weekend and bought some:

• Pop Tarts, simply because people here mention them: S'mores, chocolate, and brown sugar & cinnamon. So far I've eaten one S'more. It wasn't bad, but I don't think they're anywhere near as moreish as Squiggletops or Tim Tams. :-)
  
• Tinned pumpkin. You can't get pureed tinned pumpkin here, probably because it's a major vegetable and they assume you'll buy it fresh, but I hate cutting it up. I may make pumpkin pie (there's a recipe on the tin).
  
• A packet of Butterfingers which are little, very rich, peanut buttery things coated in chocolate. Not bad, but one of those is almost too much. Intense.

• Glee. This just started here and is huge fun. We don't have glee clubs, and I'm not sure why the members seem to be as much nerdy losers as those in chess or computer club, but this series just rocks! The characters are great, the song and dance routines are terrific, and I love the biting humour and, against all expectations, ex-Special Forces cheerleader trainer Sue Sylvester. She's so tough and mean, she should be running Space Fleet. Why does no one else watch this?
  
• SGU: quite different from the other SGs, but this is not a bad thing, much as I loved them. This series has a whole different feel--in fact rather BSG with the dark palette and shaky cameras (and I could really, really do without the latter: why erect a barrier between the viewer and the action?) but with characters I like a lot better. Eli is of course my favourite. He's sweet and funny and clever.
  
• Being Erica. I don't know anyone else who watches this, but I like it despite there being a lot of relationship stuff. It's about a woman who was rather a loser last season (so I could relate) until a strange psychiatrist sent her back in time to change things in her past; it's a sort of Quantum Leap of her own life. I like her and the mystery of what's going on, and yay, she got a future leap into someone else, which opens up possibilities.

If you're interested in getting an invite to the multifandom Archive of Our Own, you can sign up to be sent one; just go to the site and click on "SIGN UP NOW". I did that yesterday, and they said I was in a queue and might get my invite by 20 November. However I got it today. :-) I haven't loaded up any fiction yet, and I do think the Hip Deep archive is a better and much easier place to find B7 fiction. However this will be a good place for me to post my non-B7 stuff, to find fanfic in other fandoms, and to provide another backup for my stories on my site and Hip Deep. It seems to have some very nice features like being able to save drafts, bookmarks, reading history, and subscriptions.

In other news, our soccer team (we have to say "soccer" here because "football" means rugby) has made it into the World Cup for the second time. Yay! :-D

We bought a TiVo today. OK, we've had TiVos since 2001, when I used one to make sure I didn't miss B7 when it was shown here in reruns at 6pm. This TiVo however has a bigger drive than the ones we installed in our UK TiVos--and actually has access to program guides. It's a pity Prime won't let TiVo have their programming, but we can use our Sky One box to record them. Either way, no more manually-programmed season passes that don't detect when programs are shifted. :-) Oh and wide-screen digital TV at last!

We can't order pizza yet on it, but hey!

Remember that cafe that had a rogue apostrophe? I didn't hold out much hope for them fixing it, but I noticed last week that their list of coffees is now headed by an apostrophe-less "COFFEES". Yes! \o/ I may go there sometimes now; they have nice private tables at the back that would be good for a quiet read.

And New World supermarket has chocolate oranges in their Christmas stock! I bought four. :-D

I was also amused by this snippet on Catster:

Bouhaki, the earliest cat name on record, dates back to Egyptian writings of 2000 B.C. In the hieroglyphs of that period, "bou" signified "house" and "hak" was the symbol for "divine ruler".

I hope you are having a wonderful day full of friends, family, and ice cream.

It's not the only birthday either; my LJ is exactly six years old! :-D

I just realised that I missed bigdamnxenafan's birthday. [headdesk]



This cat knows how slack I am. See the accusing look she's giving me. :-P

I hope you had a wonderful one. [hugs]

spacefall and other Holmes fans: look at this! It's five sample pages from a book of... Sherlock Holmes paper dolls! See Holmes, Watson, and Lestrade and some alternate costumes, and on the 5th sample page, a whole series of Holmes and Watson heads if you fancy different actors. I had no idea so many had played the pair. I'm not sure how the alternate heads work since they're all looking in different directions and the hats won't fit them. Perhaps one needs the whole book.

The link is temporary; Dover Publications only leave their samples up for about three weeks.

I should talk about the books I've read lately, but I'll just mention the Discworld ones.

Going Postal was great, and against all my expectations, mostly caused by his name, I liked Moist von Lipwig a lot. Yes, he did remind me of a certain thief with his particular brand of ethics and charm. :-)

Thud however I have mixed feelings about. ( Minor spoilers )

As an aside, Willikins' name still unnerves me every time I see it. He's a very cool character though, with his very correct and dignified butler speech combined with a deadly facility with anything he can turn into a weapon. :-) I'd like to read more of him. He and Vimes make an excellent team.

I've had my hair cut, and I like it! It's quite a bit shorter, rather like a 30s shingled bob: all thick and glossy looking. :-) I took it in to get a third set of passport photos. [rolls eyes] The place I went to for the others didn't know that people have to put their hair behind their ears to show them. WTH? Why would they want to see my ears? Anyway, this set is the best of the lot; I don't actually look like a wanted killer. It's lucky I wasn't in a hurry for that passport.

I haven't posted much lately, but I am doing picowrimo again this month, which is a great way to get me writing. I decided on part 4 (of 5) of my Lynx series, and this one's all about mutoids, which canon didn't tell us enough about. I'm deciding on my own fanon as I go.

What else? Oh yes, my sister of wetter water fame, continues to pursue ways of being as loose a cannon as she can. She has been through astrology, vibrations, special plant sugars "scientists" got in a vision, the wetter water (which I think had something to do with the sugars, but I may be wrong) and now it's eclipses. [flails] She's now part of a sort of Jewish fundie group that follow some weirdo online who claims that eclipses always fall on Jewish holidays and can predict major events. I don't want to know. Hasn't she known me long enough by now to realise I don't want to know about her latest craze? I was considering going to see her when Greg's away in December, but that last phone call has convinced me to stay well away.

Snurched from kalinda001:

1) Post a list of up to 20 books / movies / anime / TV shows / video games / bands that you've had a fannish love or interest in at some point.
2) Have people guess your favourite character / member from each one.
3) When someone guesses correctly, strikethrough the item and put the name of your favourite character and who guessed it first next to it.

OK, the first one should be dead easy. ;-)

( 20 TV and book series )

I'm loving the Sarah Jane Adventures, and just watched part one of this season's second story tonight. (And very intriguing it is.)

( Casting spoiler )

Have an extra greeting with two Mabs!



Though it might have been yesterday now. Anyway, I know you had an excellent unbirthday on Saturday. :-)

Have a great one!

A karate instructor I met talked me into taking classes, saying that it was a lot more fun--and more effective in his opinion--than going to the gym (mind you, most things are more fun). I went to my first class last night, and he was right: it was fun. He said I was "awesome" for my first time, but maybe he says that to all the beginners. :-P He warned me I might be sore today, but I haven't even had a twinge. I must be fitter than I thought, but I am a lot more active than I was a year ago when I worked in an office.

There's a new trailer for the Holmes and Watson film which I think fans will enjoy. :-)

And here are some photos that were languishing on my camera.

( Vic, looking cat, and a cherimoya )

When people say they don't like science fiction, that it's not literature, I always recommend The Dispossessed, and it has never failed with those who took me up on it. It is a book to read again and savour.

I hope you have a wonderful 80th!

People are talking about NaNoWriMo and other writing challenges for November, and once again I'm doing the well named picowrimo. It's a good way of getting myself to write a story of over 5000 words in the month, but members use it for anything: novels in progress, theses, essays etc.

I'll probably go for the next instalment in the Lynx series as it will be shorter than the other ideas I have.

Only minor spoilers, I hope.

( Chuck )

( Big Bang Theory )

( Stargate Universe )

( Electric Dreams )

Greg, who is watching TV, just called me in to see an ad. It happens to be online; click relevant button to watch. Despite its start, it's revoltingly funny.

See your doggy birthday card here. :-)

Vic hasn't been eating his evening treat of soft food for the last few days, but I wasn't that worried till I saw him doing that weird mouth-opening and licking thing Claudia did when she had sore teeth, so we took him to the vet today. He needs a scale, but that's not the problem; he has a sore throat! I didn't know cats got sore throats. So he got a painkiller and an antibiotic injection, and some liquid antibiotic for the next week. We also bought him some extra-soft food and he seems a lot more keen on that, though he's been eating his Hill's dry food. Not that he couldn't stand to lose a little weight anyway; he's a prosperous-looking cat, as a friend would say.

I just finished Silver on the Tree, the last of the Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper.

( I'm not happy )

On to Going Postal. I'm sure from what I've heard that I'll enjoy that.

I read China Mieville's The Scar a couple of weeks ago, and though I've been able to recognise the mythical origins of several Bas Lag species like the vodyanoi (Russian for watery ones), I thought Mieville's avanc had its own original name.

I'm now reading Silver on the Tree, the last of Susan Cooper's Dark in Rising series, one I never came across as a kid, and whaddaya know, here on page 69, Bran says that "Arthur is supposed to have pulled an afanc, a monster, out of a lake up there," and since F is said as V in Welsh, I recognised it. Cool! I'll have to look up some of the other creatures.

Speaking of F being V, it wasn't till I came back--and it had fallen apart--that I realised that I'd gone all round Wales with my Fila shoulder bag. I might have to find another one so I can be fannish in Welsh. ;-)