Still here, online with my own computer - a computer that doesn't seize up if I try to run more than one application at a time! (Forgive me for labouring the point but this is so effing good! :)
And I can watch Ai no Kusabi on this puter too! <happysqueak> Mmm... blond seme...

Ages ago I had an idea for a story based on the fandom I was active in at the time. Every now and again the idea bobs back up to the surface of my mind and I have another think about it. Yesterday I decided that not only could I rework it as a Dystopia story but I even sorted out the gribbles and plot holes that arose from mushing together two not entirely compatible worldframes. <g> I think I can make it work, what's more I think I can make it plausible. But first I want to finish my next AC which I've been dithering over for days. <sigh> There's maybe only another few chapters needed to tie up the loose ends from my side of the saga, but, like Joules I'm finding it hard to muster the enthusiasm - far more interested in the planned side-stories!

<smirk> So... Joules is writing a twinfic (Matrix) songfic slash, eh? Watching the energy she's expended on research for 'Beautiful Day' I have to say she's gone beyond thorough to, yes, obsessive this time. :) Honestly, she's like a pig after truffles, sometimes... <blink> Uh, okay, maybe not a pig, maybe... um... <thinking hard> maybe a miner after gold, perhaps?
<changing subject>
There's a funny thing I've noticed about fanfic over the years - most of it's written about main characters and most of that is utter crap. However, there seems to be a greater proportion of good fiction written about secondary characters and I believe this is because there isn't a lot of info readily available about them in the primary source so the writer has to think about the characters and not just slavishly follow the trend. Also, from what I've read, good writers are more attracted to secondary charas because their stories haven't been rehashed to death, and because it's more of a challenge to extrapolate from iotas of information rather than cut/pasting standard ideas...
(... and I have no idea how to end that thought graciously so I'll just move right along...)

August 30th... 2 more days and we should start seeing Xmas stuff in the shops. Right now the shops are filled with 'Father's Day ideas'. It's never ending, is it?

Thinking seriously about getting a digital camera now - Goodtwin, the pics I've seen taken with yours seemed very clear. What's the resolution on your camera? I assume the bigger the mp the better the image? And I'd need Photoshop as well? Tch, so much to learn...
(Oh, and Talon, I've lost my 'favourites' list so can I have the url for your other lj, please? The one with the slavefics? Ta :)

Heh, still here. This is a good thing. Currently rebuilding my 'favourites' list.
Here's one that I've managed to keep throughout allll the dramas over the years... <smirk>

Sewed all the sections of my quilt together only to realise I'd miscalculated somewhere. D'oh! Instead of starting and finishing on one particular type of row configuration I'd managed to use the other type. (Remember I had to re-do a couple of the rows cos I thought I'd got the ratio wrong? I hadn't, I just didn't look closely enough at the picture. Tch.) Anyway, not a major cock-up, easily fixed and then I can finally begin finishing off the project. <g rubs hands together> Then it's on to the next one...!

[<happy sigh> Glad to be back. And yes it's been a while since we've had any... attention...]

Right, getting to grips with XP.
So far so good, it seems to be doing what it's sposed to, though after using Win98 for so long the XP interface is just weird. Eh, I'll get used to it I spose. Got a firewall installed (I've already been informed lots of times tonight that it's blocking things - <pat pat> good software :) and tried to download/install Grisoft anti-virus (after Norton's wouldn't do as it was told). Hn. Downloaded fine, apparently, the .exe file is sitting where it's sposed to be problem is I can't run it to complete the installation. Get it started and it takes me to the set-up wizard for the sodding keyboard... Perhaps if I tried putting it somewhere else?
The cubs are happy, they got a demo disc for a maths-game thing and they played with that for a couple of hours this evening. It ran an' everything, no freezing, no falling over...
And I have music again, woohoo! Now to get myself over to Morpheus or similar sometime soon and start filling up the echoing space of the hard-drive. :)
I discovered something really cute by accident as I was poking through the control panel setting things this afternoon... I now have an arrow cursor that scrolls rainbow stripes in it's 'working' mode. Hee.

<sigh> The continuing story...
The new 'puter will not accept Win98 as it's operating system. This is... aggravating. I wanted to avoid using XP but I might not have a choice. I suspect the whizz-bang processor is looking at '98 like it's some sort of primitive, stylised cave-art that originates so far back in pre-history it's beyond comprehension. <grumble> However, my desire for a working computer is greater than my not wanting XP so I'll follow the path of least resistance in this case.
In the meantime I'm still using the cubs' father's computer while he's out. <grits teeth> Could be - has been - worse...

A little while back I was rolling my eyes at some of the stupid junk you could get to fill up your usb ports with but now that I have usb ports all of my very own (6, apparently) I'm thinking a mini-aquarium would be cool. Also a keyboard light, perhaps, and today I saw a 'massage' unit for sale. No, not the sausage-shaped ones (though I'll be buggered if there isn't usb-driven sex-toys designed for the [literal] wankers who use their computers to hunt down rudies) but a round, palm-sized thing covered in nobbles. I think the coffee maker might be going too far though. : )

Been having fun at the op-shops, cheering myself up. Today I found a lovely, fish-shaped ceramic platter which is 2 1/2 feet long! That's going on the wall sometime soon. And earlier this week I picked up a waistcoat that had a grey/silver paisley pattern on the front - perfect for patchwork. Ah yes, and then there was the yellow ceramic chicken-shaped toothpick holder. <g> I like op-shops...

When the name 'Bruce' popped into my head last night I assumed it was what I was going to call my new computer. This afternoon I realised it wasn't the computer's name, it was the name of another gremlin... Bloody hell, I haven't even got the system set up yet and there's one of the buggers waiting to move in! Quite what Carli's going to think about it is anybody's guess but if they don't conflict and/or keep each other amused it might divert their attention from making my life a misery.
Bruce took his time revealing himself to me today, starting with a very strong impression of a wicked grin and tousled, spiky silver hair crackling with static electricity. He looks like a djin, actually, in that his upper half is solid but from the waist down he's a nebulous column of aquamarine/silver sparkles (it's implied he can manifest naughty bits if required). Let's see, what else? Nice muscle definition in his shoulders and arms; gold armbands around his upper arms and a matching torc around his neck; asian-ish face, high cheekbones, almond eyes, irises a vibrant electric blue which stand out nicely against his turquoise skin. Oh, and he has elongated eye-teeth and, I think, cat's pupils. <rolls eyes> Yes, very pretty and I can't wait to discover what his special ability is...
(I've no doubt there's some people in the world who'd consider the above as firm evidence I have a mental disorder. Believing in imaginary creatures? Conversing with them as if they're real?! <smirk> Heh, the things that live in my head are far more entertaining than the majority of 'real' people and hey, I'm a writer I don't live in the 'real' world anyway...)

So yes, I have a new computer - it's still sitting in its box on the coffee table. Unfortunately it's going to be one of those chinese puzzle situations to get it set up. For it to go on the desk I first have to disassemble the other 2 computers, but before I can do that I have to make sure I've got somewhere to put them which in this case means hacking out a path in my room to my desk and making sure there's space there... You see what I mean. It would be nice though if for once everything went smoothly, wouldn't it? Ah well, time will tell.

In my solitary subject at school this term our regular teacher has taken some time off to go teach in Vietnam and the class has had a substitute teacher. She was called away unexpectedly this morning so we had a substitute, substitute teacher who didn't know much about the subject at all but had been instructed by the substitute teacher to tell us to continue ploughing through our work books. This was fine by me, it meant I could go at my own pace and really get to grips with some nit-picky stuff about the structure of catalogue entries I have to know. The past couple of weeks we've been studying the different 'areas' of an entry and the order they come in; this week it was dealing with the specific punctuation that operates within those areas. Let's see if I can remember the basics without looking it up:

Title proper [GMD] : other title / statement of responsibility; subsequent s.o.r. -- edition. -- place of publication : publisher, date of publication. -- extent of item : other physical details ; dimensions + accompanying material. -- series information.
Notes:
ISBN : [terms of availability].

<g> There, wasn't that interesting? I think I've got it all correct as well, I'll check later. This subject has a lot of rote-learning in it and from that aspect it makes it easy - you're either wrong or you're right, your marks aren't dependant on how close your answers are to what the teacher thinks they should be. Just for practise I'm going to begin cataloguing my books, something I've wanted to do for years - now all I need is a database program to play with.

'k, have I finished waffling?
Hn, not quite.
Thank you again, Onna, for your's and rat's giftie, that's really helped things along. And in my last post I should've said it was the 2000^th post not my 2000^th post cos of course I'm not the only one that posts here. :)

Hey wow, my 2000^th post - and only a few days away from my blog's 2^nd anniversary, I think.

I've noticed that when, for whatever reason, I don't write much for a few days I begin to wonder why the hell I bother. Eh.
New computer's on order - fingers crossed it'll be home and behaving as expected (ie: the way it's sposed to) within a few days.

<blink> I thought I had more to say. Ah well...

... and I get a blog-bar too, lucky me...

Well I've had a miserable couple of days.
Hm, no, perhaps that's being a bit melodramatic, but I haven't been having loads of fun, either.
Got into the garage and spent a few hours tunnelling through the stacks of cardboard boxes to find out just what's been affected by the damp concrete floor. Not as much as I'd feared: lots of water-marked books, some warped pages, but only a couple of precious things had to be thrown-out, one of which was my 1905 edition of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management', dammit. (That's not to say there wasn't a lot that had to go, just that of the stuff that did I only regret the loss of a couple of things.) A lot of the items in those bottom layer of boxes felt damp so they're currently strewn about the garage while they air. I'll leave them for a week or so then rebox them. Yes, they'll probly have that damp, mouldy book smell forever but at least I still have them. There's still 3 stacks left to get through, tucked away in a largely inaccesible corner of the garage - I'll get back to that in a couple of days. Was hard work though, shifting heavy boxes to get to the damaged ones, then lugging across equally heavy plastic crates to act as a barrier then piling the other boxes back on top. My back hurts, I wonder why...
And I've been shunting stuff around in my room, trying to make some sort of space in there. There's still crap piled around but at least I've mostly got my bed back. Gah - I want a new house, one where I don't have to fight for space!

On the plus side, though, I've almost (ie: 8cm's left to sew up) finished the bulk of my quilt. Still have to attach the little odd bits to round off the pattern, then get the backing, borders and wadding organised so I can quilt it but still the bulk of it's nearly done. Phew...

Was there something else I was going to mention? Eh, can't remember.

Is knowing what otaku means a sign that you are one? : )

The school had another fund-raising event last night, a performance of A.R. Gurney's 'Love Letters' starring Campbell McComas (local celebrity) and Jane Badler (remember her in 'V'?). Should've raised a tidy sum - all of the $25 ticket price was going to the school and there was easily 300 people attending. As for the play itself? Um… it's the sort of thing which will appeal to a wide spectrum of people - trite, in short. Perhaps I'm being unkind. It wasn't confronting, or challenging, the most controversy it would generate is that 'fuck' is used a couple of times. Essentially it's a conversation between two people, through the letters they write to each other, over about 50 years. In that respect it was interesting, watching them grow up, seeing the directions their lives go in, the decisions they make relative to the era of history, but - I don't know - there just seemed to be something missing. Despite the traumas hinted at in some of the letters it still seemed… facile. Is it an indication of overweening ego to think you can do a better job of something someone's written? <g>

Okay, I've removed most of the paper pieces in the quilt sections and last night I laid the bits out on the floor together. <blinks> It's enormous! And I haven't even done the edging bits yet. Fair enough I slavishly followed the pattern (which was for a queen-sized bed) without adjusting down for a double-sized bed but still… Hee, it's really bright and colourful though - if you squint a little it looks like a scattering of flowers. : )

I love the mermaid, Joules, she's sooo pretty! Definitely worthy of plastic grapes… high-quality ones of course…


(nicked from Onna's blog: )

Squeeeee! Excel Saga!!

What anime are you from? by squasar
Your name:
Your gender:	FemaleMaleOther
Your age:
You are from:
Your color is:	Pink
Quiz created with MemeGen!

Watched the Olympic opening ceremony - well, the replay of it - this afternoon. I always look forward in these things to a bit of national pride tricked out in a tacky display geared to please the tourists. I wasn't disappointed. Bits of it were fantastic, dead impressed, but the rest made me either giggle or cringe. Loved the detailed costumes/props in the 'parade of civilisation' and the discombobulating statue was very cool but the huge olympic torch thing just put me in mind of a plasma canon. I couldn't escape the feeling that the torch-bearer was about to be atomised. <g> Too much sci-fi? I think not... (Hee, and if that woman had really been pregnant I would've been extremely concerned about the background radiation levels in Greece, though I can see the idea of a lamp in the shape of a pregnant woman being quite popular...)
202 nations had sent teams, and I (and the cubs to a lesser extent) watched allll of them march around the stadium. Tell you what, there were some fantastic costume/uniforms on display, very colourful and sparkly, just gorgeous, dahling - except for the UK team's which were very dull. Or perhaps it was the way they were wearing them, the team members didn't seem to be terribly enthusiastic about being there. Eh. Some wit in the Spanish team was sporting a plastic matador hat, which set me thinking how neat it'd be to collect stupid plastic hats from around the world and display them on your wall. There was something I spotted in the NZ team though, that I am intensely covetous of. A plastic blow-up kiwi. I want one!! So, Val, if you happen to see one of these things in your travels, could you let me know how much it is, pretty please? : )
The Olympics are being broadcast in Aus on a commercial tv station so I saw more ads during the three (?) hours of the ceremony than I have in the past 6 months. <shakes head> How stupid do the ad companies think people are? Tch. I'll stick with my ABC, no commercials there, thanks very much.
Heh, speaking of ads, last weekend I got asked to take a survey about brand recognition for household appliances... Given my non-commercial telly viewing, and non-reading of newspapers and magazines I just don't see many commercials anymore; I was hard pressed to come up with a list of company names, had to delve into my memory from years ago. : )
Grrr... and that's another thing... our government deregulated the power companies (or something) a little while back so now I regularly get visits from poor sods employed to go house-to-house to try and convince people to change their supplier. I'm not a sociable person at the best of times and I resent strangers appearing on my doorstep trying to sell me things!
But anyway, the last quilt strip has been attached to the last section and I've started taking out some of the paper piecings preparatory to sewing the sections together. Neat, eh? <g>

It's geek-fest, er, Manifest, this weekend - the anime convention here in Melbourne. Can't afford to go, but I half expected that to be the case anyway. The cubs found out about it and bounced up and down, wanting to go as well... Their eyes bugged out when I told them how much it was going to cost for the 3 of us to attend. "That's almost as much as Scorponok and Ironhide put together!" (Those are 2 Transformer toys the cubs are desperate to have - good to put things in perspective, eh? : )

Got to watch most of CCO 808 this afternoon again (thank you, Joules!) while the cubs were out with their father. Tch, I'd really like to see the subtitled version at some point, given the way my ears work I found I was missing most of what that robot thing was saying. One bit made me giggle though; the gyro-stabilisers on the building stopped working and some bright spark says: "... that thing's going to come down like a ton of bricks!" <snigger> 'That thing' is how many stories tall? Surely "...several squillion tonnes of bricks" would've been more accurate! I like the music in the show, though - this is probly a daft question but you don't happen to have the opening theme do you, Joules? : )

Good grief it's Friday already. Heh, there's something to be said for short weeks I guess...

(Nicked from Onna's blog:)


You're a Dialogue/Character Writer!

What kind of writer are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Plot? What plot? <smirk>

Oh dear. One of my cubs tearfully accused me today of showing my 'angry face' to him and my 'loving face' to his brother. <sigh> It doesn't help that this cub is the one more likely to behave thoughtlessly/dangerously so I'm more likely to growl at him than the other...
But then I cuddled him 'til he was laughing and told me to stop so I think he's feeling better now.

Reformation pt 1, my next AC is posted, thanks, Joules!

Dreamt last night that the Queen (of England) had moved out of Buckinghuge House and I was looking after some of her stuff. She (and Prince Phillip) rang to ask me to find a few items because they wanted some of their old, familiar things to make their new place more like home. Fine, cool - except instead of efficiently organizing the storage space right at the start, like a sensible person would, I'd cheerfully ignored the necessity, thinking to myself there was plenty of time…
I spent the dream darting about frantically, first locating the items then fixing the damage that poor storage, and mice, had caused.
I think there's a lesson in that for all of us…
Interestingly, I had a vaguely similar dream last week. Bit hazy on the details but I had these seeds, or beads or something, that when immersed in water grew into animals. I decided to activate some of these things knowing full I didn't have room/facilities to properly look after whatever emerged. I spent that dream scrambling to get everything ready while keeping half an eye on the 4 kittens and 2 fish growing in buckets. : )

Half-way through my next AC, with plans to start another Dystopia chapter (or two) after that. Feeling kind of scattered though, finding it hard to concentrate. I blame my Libran ascendant, cos Libran's need a harmonious atmosphere to be productive and that sure as sherbet doesn't describe my living arrangements! <g>.

Hee, at the end of the nightly news tonight they showed images of a hot-air balloon festival thing in Bristol. <g> I looked for you and bratling, Joules…

(Oh, I can't take the credit for 'Buckinghuge House', that was something that came up in an '90's satirical political radio broadcast over here called The Cactus Chronicles...)

Right, what software/hardware do I need to be able to play DVDs on the 'puter, and get screencaps? I'm making a wish-list of fun things I want my new machine to have…

I've noticed my reaction to disaster varies wildly, and inconsistently, between sighing and rolling my eyes, and dragging out the sack-cloth and ashes. What is consistent though, is that when I'm taking things badly I only need half an hour or so to vent then I calm down and start thinking rationally again. Don't think the cubs' father ever got the hang of that. He'd get this defensive set to his face whenever I started ranting, which in turn - cos you don't want to upset your partner, do you? - tended to make me swallow my initial reactions. Heh, did that for years, don’t think it helped.

The cubs had a curriculum day yesterday so we trotted off to the Aquarium. Dang, I love that place, never feel tired there. I think I might take the cubs to the Chinese Museum next, haven't been there yet and that giftshop is bound to have a different flavour of tat. <bg>

'Story of O' was an interesting read though initially I found the ending abrupt and unsatisfactory. But then again, there wasn't really anywhere else to go with it, the main character had been well and truly broken by then and any more detail would've simply been repetitive. The postscript was disturbing, but given what had been building in the main narrative, it made perfect sense.

'k, only got one more quilt strip left to attach to the last section. Hee.
And I've started collecting materials for the next one (can't remember if I've mentioned that before), lots of fun. <g>

Penny and I went to see the documentary 'Supersize Me', you know the one? Where the guy eats nothing but menu items from the Golden Arches of Doom for 30 days? It was intriguing, scary in places but what bothered me most was that despite hearing all the bad stuff, after watching him eating all that rubbish I found myself thinking that, yeah, I could go for a burger and chips…
<g> I didn't - I know from past experience that while the first couple of mouthfuls would've been heaven, the rest of it would just sit in my stomach for hours going sour.

Yay! Volumes 4 & 5 of YYH are now in my possession. Mwahahahahah! The cubs are enjoying it, too. <g> And I finally got hold of the final volume of X. <soppy grin> People nobly sacrificing themselves all over the place for their loved ones? The fluffy bunny was in her element… Going to watch it all from the beginning again really soon.

I'm back, sort of. Using the cubs' father's puter to get online, which, cos it's in his room, means I only have limited use but hey, it's better than nothing. Going to have to dip into my savings and get a new machine though - the other 2 I have to work with are really not worth the attempt to upgrade (one's a 486 for gods' sake!). Still, shouldn't take all that much effort to get going again, don't have to get new peripherals straight away, and thanks to Onna and rat's generosity, a substantial portion of the cost of building a new machine will hopefully be allayed. <glomps the pair of them>
... and now I'm back in more regular contact with Joules I'm feeling inspired again. <bg>
Tch, to think... 4 years ago I sniffed disdainfully at people who couldn't live without their computers...

Okay, through Niki's goodgraces (I'm at her place at the moment, hogging her internet connection :) I can finally do a post of some sort.
In short I'm still offline, <grumble>, and not sure when I'll be back. Annoyed? Oh yes...
Tch, it feels like my life's on hold - which it isn't, not really, just that I can't type or chat online. <rolls eyes> Ok, so typing and chatting do form a large part of my life but still...
Um, was there something else I had to say? Probably, I've made a list of things to include in future posts.
Ah! Yes!
Found a copy of 'The story of O' in an opp shop today. Heard a lot about this 'pornographic' book over the years but never got round to reading it. Heh, tell you what, Joules' writes much better, much more involving lemons. <bg> It's interesting, though, <smugsmirk> if a litte dated, a little lame. But, hey, it was written 30 years ago and published amid much controversy. I can see how it set the template for some areas, at least, of the BDSM scene.
Good to hear you'll be getting back to Haadri soon, Joules. :)

(What size hard-drive died, Onna? An old, 1gig pentium...)

[And the tenshi is quite happy to be comforted... :) ]