New Short Story

Coming in under the wire of the challenge I posted over at the forum, I've posted up a Christmas themed fic. "Christmas Cheer" can be found here, and will eventually make it's way over to DocSpace and Fanfic.net. I hope everybody's Christmas was merry and that you all have a happy and safe New Year's!

Holiday Hectic

That last minute Christmas rush is in full swing around here, not leaving much time for anything else. Boxes of presents were finally wrapped and mailed this weekend, though there's still a little shopping to do for those living within driving distance.

And it's been 80 degrees or hotter all month. It's just not right. But if we did get the snow that I'm used to around here, everything would shut down cold. One eighth of an inch of snow would bring this little Georgia town to a screeching halt.

Over at the forum, we're trying out a new game because of my current infatuation with YouTube. Each week we'll have a challenge topic, have folks post a video (music or otherwise), and then let everyone vote on which they like the most. Right now it's in the Sailor Moon section, but I think I'm going to move it to the shoujo-ai section so topics won't be as limited. Thoughts, suggestions, and challenge topics would be greatly appreciated from anyone who'd like to play.

End of the Season

Football season has pretty much ended, and for the boys at Troy it wasn't a happy kind of ending. Saturday's game showed us both the best and worst of what the team has offered all year. Unfortunately, we saw a lot more bad than we did good. Three quarters of it in fact, before they woke up and realized they were handing the bowl bid to the opposing team. From where we were watching, the problem seemed to be primarily with the offense. They seemed confused, like they didn't get what the coaches wanted them to do - or didn't like it. I'm leaning a bit towards the latter, as Troy's quarterback likes to throw the ball and he did very little of it for the first part of the game. Once they started letting him throw again, the boys started getting touchdowns, and quick. Going into the forth quarter 12-38 with all of our points to that point off of Whibbs' toe, their comeback was nothing short of amazing. But it was too little too late. They ended the game 32-38 after not managing to complete a play in the last 45 seconds of the game. So they end the season 8-4, ranked 50th in the nation according to CBS Sports, but still can't get a bowl. The Sunbelt gets no respect.

Except from the fans.

I have to say, this was easily the best home crowd I've seen all season. Not only did the majority stay for the whole game (this is something we have a big problem with), they were also really into it. They actually made noise and stood up to cheer the boys on as they were getting beaten so badly. Why can't it be like this every game?

I won't comment on the FAU fans. Every group has it's bad apples, but it's looking like they may win the award for worst/most obnoxious fans in the conference. Hopefully it'll only be the fans that travel and not the home game crowd as well.

So with our season over, we're just waiting around for LSU to kick Ohio's nut. ^_^

Time Flies

The last month got away from me somehow. There wasn't really a lot going on, but free time was at a premium. I did manage to get Tangled Web updated this past weekend. I gave Doc 3 or 4 false starts to check over before settling on the final version. She's a very patient beta reader, and she helped me work out the kinks in the Usagi scene. I also updated the website with some new fanart that Doc received for her birthday last month.

Me and Doc and took a trip over to Troy U for the homecoming game against N Texas a few weekends ago. Not really being a football person, I had never been to a game before. But since moving to Georgia, I've been assimilated into the sport, and I had a really good time both at the game and roaming around Doc's old campus. The camerabug in me snapped a ton of pictures, and I've posted them for folks to see.

Last Day

We've come pretty much to the end of our extended weekend here at the beach. We made the most of it today, though. Spent the morning on the beach doing a little dozing and a little wave diving. Surf is still a bit rougher than it could be, but I had fun. It amazes me still that the water is so clear. You can stand out there and actually see your feet standing in the sand under water. Can't do that up at the Jersey Shore. Hopefully, we'll get in a few more hours tomorrow before we have to check out and start heading home. Doc has the rest of the week off, but I have to be back at work on Wendsnday. If it wasn't a new job I'd call off sick and stay another day...

To round out the evening, we went and had dinner at Peg Leg Pete's. The food was great - I had grilled grouper, scallops, and shrimp with Key Lime Pie for dessert. Yummy! I shared the pie with Doc, cause I love her like that and she was too full from her shrimp and oysters to eat a whole peice. Truthfully, I was too full to eat a whole peice, also, but I was gonna try!

Wish You Were Here

Taking advantage of a few days off, me and Doc headed over to Pensacola Beach. We've got a great room at the Marriott, with our own balcony and a clear view of the water. Surf's a little rough today, but it's warm and sunny and peaceful. Lazy has set in.

Our internal clocks are an hour ahead of local time, so we were up pretty early this morning. Gave us the chance to take advantage of the free breakfast. If you've ever stayed at a hotel with a continental breakfast, you know it's not usually anything worth mentioning. Here, though, they gave us real food. I had a very good ham, egg, and cheese biscuit and a bowl of cheesy grits. I love this hotel. My only gripe is that we couldn't find a luggage cart to haul all our stuff upstairs. But the bed and view make up for that.

As a plus, we got to watch the Troy game on local tv last night. Seems over the last week the boys have learned to tackle. They won by a respectable margin. Go Troy!

Weeknight Randomnes

1. Printing Maddness
Doc is on a fanfiction kick again, so we've been really testing out the legs on the new printer. Several hundred pages later, the HP Photosmart C5180 is still going strong. Though the black ink cartridge dies out pretty quick even on the draft setting. No complaints, though. I love this printer/scanner/copier. And I recycle!

2. Mating Maddness
It's love bug season in the south. We don't have these annoying insects up north. At least, not yet. I hear they're traveling. Cars get plastered with them just driving a few blocks to work, and they don't come off easily once they've baked on. I swear you can't go anywhere inside or out without being accosted by these screw-happy black bugs. And I don't know if I should be grossed out or jealous. ^_^

3. Pictures!
I updated the pictures at flikr with the ones we took when we visited Troy a few weeks ago. We're planning on going over for the Homecoming game, so maybe I'll have a few more to post after that.

4. Slow
The word used to describe the pace at which I write.

5. Typing
What Doc is doing in the next room. Her muse is being friendly, which is a good thing for all of us.

6. Updates
What we got a few of up on the website. Added some links and updated Arthkael's e-mail address on the fanart page. If you've enjoyed her artwork, please drop her a line and let her know about it. It's always good to encourage the creative side of people with her kind of talent. That, and it just feels good to know you've given someone else some enjoyment with something you enjoyed doing.

I think that's it for tonight. The second season of Heroes started about 20 mins ago, but I haven't even seen all of the first season yet. I love the series, but I'm taking it as it comes out on dvd rather than watching it as it airs. And I've managed to avoid spoilers, too. I gotta say, that wasn't an easy thing...

Updates!

And for our Sunday update this week, we have a new section from Doc for "Echoes of a Distant Demon." Scoot on over to the Previews page at DocSpace to find it.

Religion in the South

That's right, it's once again football season. Not really having any interest in the game, I only know this because of the flags flying from cars, the store windows painted with the names and colors of the local high school teams, the crush of cars parked around the high school stadium on Friday nights, and all the teenagers driving with their school teams proudly painted onto their car windows. You may have noticed a theme here. Football season in the south isn't about the pro teams, though they do have their place. It's about the high school and college teams. I can do this. And to prove it, I've adopted Doc's team, the Troy University Trojans.

I can see the confusion on your face and hear you asking, "Who?"

Here's a link. They're not a big name player in college football, yet, and they haven't been division one very long. But they play a good game, even if they can't beat the teams from the top ten. Yet. So I've adopted them, after being a fan by association for awhile. And the colors look good on me, I think. Doc drove me over to her alma matta yesterday, and we dropped a goodly amount of money in the bookstore getting both of us geared up for the homecoming game next month. I've got my hat, t-shirt, pull-over windbreaker, and seat cushion all ready to go. And then I realized, between this and the cheesy grits, I've been assimilated. And it's not so bad...

What? You thought I was going to talk about the Baptists or something? ^_~

Paid Holiday

Ah, Labor Day. What a contradictory name for a day when we sit around and do absolutely nothing. I love it. But Doc had to work because the hospital doesn't recognize Labor Day as a holiday and actually thinks people should come in and labor for their paychecks. Sucks for her. Heheh.

For me, this was my first paid day off from a job since I landed in Georgia back in October. So I was doubly happy. So happy, in fact, that I updated "Tangled Web!" It's a small update, but an important one that hopefully won't cause me any continuity issues later on. Setsuna is such a difficult character to get a grasp on sometimes, both her personality and her history. But I'm making the first real attempt here, to be built on later down the line. As always, don't be shy with comments. Just stop by the forum or drop me an e-mail. You can even comment here if you like. ^_^

Group Chatter

After messing around with options for a few days, I found a message board I could install and set up without any real knowledge of how it all works. But things like this are made these days with people like me in mind. So the DocSpace Forum is now open to anyone who would like to come and post and/or lurk to see what we've been distracted by lately. I'm sure we'll find some bugs and tweak a few things over the next few weeks, but overall we like the way it's turned it.

I'm contemplating some chibi Marimite and Sailor Moon avatars. Maybe by next weekend I'll have some up for people to choose from. No promises, there, though. I need to get this chapter back underway. Now that it's moving again, I don't want to give it the chance to stop.

Sunday's Story Update

I've got the latest section of Tangled Web posted on the teasers page at DocSpace, as well as on the board at shoujo-ai.com. This part kicked my butt, but I finally got it all down on paper thanks in large part to Doc's prodding and patience (she washed all the dishes this weekend just so I could get this done. Now that's love!). She's approved it and fixed my typos, so up it goes. Like always, I love to hear people's thoughts, especially as this was a tricky section for me.

In other news, I really want to try one of the forums at ff.net. Just to see what happens. That might wind up being a project for next weekend if I don't get caught up in other things. Though I expect the people who would have any interest at all in a DocSpace forum are actually much more interested in Tangled Web and Echoes being finished first, before we start any new projects. ^_^

Jesus Eats at Arby's

I grew up in NJ. Nothing particularly special about that, it's just where I was raised. Then, because Doc is just that irresistible, I relocated to the South. Don't misunderstand, I love it down here. There's just a few things that take a little getting used to, like it being 80 degrees and humid when I go to work at 7:30 AM and just as hot and humid when I go to bed at 11:00 PM. Or stores not actually giving you the hours they're open on Sunday, but rather, having a sign out front that says "Open after church on Sundays." And then there's the picture of Jesus hanging up in Arby's. It's a nice picture, but there's just something disconcerting about having the son of God staring at you while you eat your turkey bacon ranch wrap, ya know?

On the writing front, my recent small bouts of insomnia (no doubt brought on by guilt over not having something to update with last weekend like I said I would) have allowed me to get a good chunk of story pounded out on paper. Doc approves so far, so this weekend there will actually be an update. But Uncle Kyo was kicking my butt. He just wouldn't cooperate the way I wanted him to. I beat him into submission though (and I think he may have liked it), and things are now moving along at a good clip. Something WILL be posted Sunday night. Stay tuned...

My Favorite Sailor Updates

Sailor Doc has a nifty new update for chapter 9 of "Echoes" up on the previews page at DocSpace. Give it a read and let her know what you think. Remember, feedback is the internet equivalent of hugging your favorite authors. Hug often.

I'm lagging behind with story updates, but I will catch up to her! Heehee.

Up and Running

In spite of Doc being sick as a dog for the last two days, the website is up and running in what should be it's final form. "Final," of course, is a relative term. In this case it translates to "until I find something else I want to change." I'm sure there's a few links there that aren't working, but I haven't found them yet.

Today has been a completely lazy day. We spent a good part of the morning lounging around, and Doc's feeling much better tonight. So much so that she's lying in bed at this very moment with her copy of "Echoes." She's devoted like that. Me... not so much. But I'm going to get something written this weekend if it kills me, if only to keep up with her. My competitive nature demands it. ^_^

Also needing to be written are several e-mails. Not only do I need to respond to some notes from my family, I also need to answer some reviews I've gotten over the last few days. Tomorrow's going to be busy, but at least it'll be braless!!!

Braless Sunday

It's once again "Braless Sunday" at our house, which means little more than the laundry is being done today. We did, however, get the website up. Docspace Fanfiction is up and running, if not fully functional just yet. I'm still cleaning up our old story files so they look a little better in long-term storage. We're also trying to find all the bugs in the site layout. So far we've tried it on the three PCs in the house, all running Firefox, and we've come up two good, one bad. Monitor sizes and fonts that aren't as common as I thought seem to be the culprits, but until I get a few more folks to look at things and tell me what they see, I won't know for sure. This is one of those times when I wish I wasn't so far out of the technological loop.

The next thing I want in spite of a complete lack of technical know-how: A message board. I'll figure it out somehow. ^_^

Also for anyone interested, I recently discovered Flickr.com and have some pictures from some trips we've taken posted. Enter at your own risk. ~_^

Teaser

I've got a preview of the final chapter to Tangled Web up now over at shoujoai.com. I'm back in my angsty element here, and loving it.

Unintentional Hiatus

I've always had a bad habit of getting sidetracked. The last few months it seems I've completely jumped the rail in the middle of the desert, which makes things sound so much worse than they've really been. So I guess it was more like the train jumped the rail and we decided to camp out under the stars until someone came to find us.

Maize (my muse) finally showed up on the horizon and drug me back. Way to go, Maize! Thanks to that, and life settling down some, I've gotten back to work on Tangled Wed. I still suck at communication, but my family has always known this and I really hope they forgive me for it. I feel bad for my stalker kitty, though. I've neglected her pretty badly the last few months. But I still love you, Hobbes!

Part of what's kept me so unduly occupied was starting a new job. That's going well enough. I actually enjoy going to work. Go figure. To celebrate all of this, me and Doc took a trip to the beach, then a few weekends later headed up to NC to visit some friends. Great trips, both of them. The beach in particular gave us both some much need R&R. But we're both back now, Doc's muse is also once again whispering in her ear enough that she's posted a new one-shot, and I'm playing with the web page trying to get it up and running. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully this time the tracks will be a straight, smooth run.

Analogies and Metaphors That Would Make Ikuhara Cry

My sister-in-law sent me a very amusing e-mail the other day, and I had to swipe the contents to post here. As a fanfiction writer, I have a certain appreciation for this. Plus, me and Doc got a good laugh out of it.

Subject: Analogies and Metaphors by Students

Every year, English teachers from across the country can submit their
collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school
essays. These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers
across the country.

Here are last year's winners...

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides
gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like
underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a
guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those
boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at
high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of
those boxes with a pinhole in it.

4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was
room-temperature Canadian beef.

5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes
just before it throws up.

6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.

8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated
because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a
formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.

9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling
ball wouldn't.

10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag
filled with vegetable soup.

11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie,
surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and
Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.

12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you
fry them in hot grease.

14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across
the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left
Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at
4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences
that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.

16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had
also never met.

17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East
River

18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that
had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil,
this plan just might work.

21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not
eating for a while.

22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either,
but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or
something.

23. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as
if she were a garbage truck backing up.

24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with
power tools.

25. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg
behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

Weekend Tidbits

I blinked and the week was over. I kid you not. Unfortunately, not a lot was accomplished on any fronts. My notebook once again sat untouched, much to the consternation of Doc, my stalker kitty, and my readers, and I didn't get anything that needed to be done around the house finished. Except the bathtub. That made Doc happy and made up slightly for the lack of any new story.

Speaking of Doc, her parents took us out to dinner Thursday night to Mom and Dad's. It's a little Italian place here in town, dressy casual, great food. I've decided I'm going to try just about everything on the menu at least once before I settle in to getting the same thing each time I go there.

Anime Boston wrapped up today. Biggest note of interest was finding out that someone (most likely Bandai) has licensed Re: Cutey Honey. It's the only part of the Cutey Honey franchise, other than the live action movie, that I find tolerable. I'll be very glad to have it when it comes out. Also of note was Geneon's announcement of "Familiar of Zero." Noteworthy not because of the series itself, which I have no interest in, but because this title was leaked to Diamond Distributions along with Maria-sama about a week ago. Geneon denied having them, of course, but Zero being confirmed is just more proof that Geneon does indeed have Maria-sama. Now if they'd just announce it instead of dragging out the torture...

A certain somebody will be celebrating the anniversary of her 25th birthday at the end of the week. I haven't forgotten, but I'm horrible at communication and timeliness. Add in that I'm 1000 miles away this year and have to get her present mailed to her... hoo boy. But I'm going to try. I think if I mail it by Tuesday it might make it in time. Cross your fingers.

Gardening 101

With all the cooking I've started doing recently, I thought I'd take up a new hobby to compliment it - herb gardening. So I got myself one of those little starter greenhouse things with the dirt pellets and little pots. The pellets puffed up just like they were supposed to, the seeds were dropped in just the way the instructions said, and the tiny greenhouse was placed in direct sunlight. Well, as much sunlight as the rainy afternoon will allow. So, now the challenge will be to see if I can actually grow something. And to see if I have the patience to wait for something to sprout.

In other news, the mini saga of my social security mess is over. Input errors they said. Nothing to be concerned over. Yeah, we'll see about that. But at least I am now legally and official back to being female.

Gender Does Not Match

No, this isn't going to be anything deep and meaningful on the psychology of gender. We'll save that for the Kashimashi discussion I'll indulge in after Media Blasters releases the last disc and me and Doc have spent a weekend marathoning it. Rather, it's a complaint on the idiocy of the Social Security Administration and how they could get something as simple as the fact that I'm female wrong. Sure, I don't carry a purse or wear make-up, but the hardware is all girl. Yet for some as yet undiscovered reason, sometime in the last year, they've decided I'm male. My employer isn't amused, either, since I'm coming up as an illegal and/or identity thief because of it. Tomorrow I'm going to pay a visit to the SSA, birth certificate in hand, and see if I can get this straightened out. Stay tuned.

On the writing front, I have managed to get a little something started on the next chapter of Tangled Web. One Usagi scene was written, but will need to be redone. It came across as too hostile, though the general idea is there. I'll salvage what dialog I liked from it and tone it down a bit. Minako will be next. I'm enjoying writing her these days, and she'll get a lot more attention in the next story. We'll wind up exploring Venus the leader a bit then.

And now, Randomness!

Random Book of the Moment: The Dark Hills Divide, Land of Elyon book 1 by Patrick Carman. I was looking for a change of pace from my Star Trek and romance themed novels when I stumbled upon this book. I wound up liking it enough to pick up the sequel, and will be picking up the last in the trilogy in due course. From me, that's high praise. I have a short attention span with a lot of things, long series in particular, but I really enjoyed this book. It is listed as a children's book, and the style isn't overly complex. Nonetheless, it was a fun read. There's no romance as of yet, and I was glad of that. It's well paced, simple fantasy about a young girl who talks to animals, stolen magic, and some action peppered with mystery as she tries to save her town. The artwork on the cover is also noteworthy, and was what originally drew me to the series. Overall, I'd give it a 4 out of 5 just for giving me exactly what I was looking for when I was looking for it.

A Brand New Way to Ramble

Random Picture of the Day: Pie!
I like to cook (and will happily trade recipes). For Easter I made a peach pie, and me and Doc rounded it off with some vanilla ice cream. Yummy!

Random Rambling #1:
If everybody else jumped off a bridge, would you do it, too? The question may have been partly sarcastic and wholly rhetorical, but the answer nonetheless is yes, probably. In this case, the bridge is a blog, and since a lot of folks I know have one, I wanted one, too. I want to get Doc set up with one, also. It'll be fun, for me if no one else, though I think she has enough curious fans to make it worthwhile. The idea is to keep people posted a bit better on what we're doing with the stories we're working on and just to have a little fun with the randomness in our lives. I'd like to set up a small website, also, to post our fics and have someplace to store them should our usual outlets suddenly disappear. This post is the tiny little beginning of that.

So you're doing this instead of writing? And after that horrible cliffhanger you left us on? Ah, I can hear those questions coming. No, this isn't instead of writing. It's just a little side diversion while I write. Which I admit I haven't done much of lately. Real life has been kicking me in the pants rather than letting me sit and finish what I need to. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully it isn't a train.