(sorry for repost, it is due to WP/LJ crossposting dipshittery)

- get a picture frame
» put together gift basket box
- get envelopes
» put chance issues in envelopes :)
- box up Walker Papers for Mr. M
- start DEMON HUNTS revisions
- call bonk
- make bread
- do laundry (Ted’s doing this, bless him)
- send receipts (VERY IMPORTANT)

Nice swim this morning. I did my first 500 in 9 minutes, which is faster than I usually…bother to do, if we’re being honest. I don’t think I could do one faster than about 8 minutes right now anyway, but I was pretty pleased to have done a 9-minute one. Technically I’m supposed to have one more day of 1K swimming, but I did 1300 meters today (to, er, bring my ytd km swum up to a round number, because I’m a dork like that) and I may just go straight to 1500 meters tomorrow.

This morning I received Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge’s BLACK AND WHITE, which is a superhero novel I’ve been dying to read ever since Jackie mentioned it. Now I must restrain myself and not read it until at least tonight, ’cause I have work to do! (Apparently that’s how reading is going: I either want to read something RIGHT NOW, or I can put it off indefinitely. No wonder I haven’t been buying a lot of books.)

Oh, speaking of reading, it turned out I had the HOUSE OF M graphic novel…

( Read the rest of this entry » )(x-posted from the essential kit)

It occurred to me today, as I observed many young ladies in light summery dresses and floppy little shoes, that most women don't expect to be climbing up ladders or crawling around on the floor or picking up heavy things to move them around.

They probably don't even wistfully imagine beating the shit out of men saying disgusting things.

So they don't dress as though they need to be prepared for anything.

Weird.

Behold! For now I wear the human pants! Earlier this evening, I finished doing the redline edits on the physical manuscript of Late Eclipses, finished entering those edits into my manuscript copy, and finished processing the corrections in Vixy's gloriously detailed machete file. Then I kissed it goodnight, told it to wear its jacket, and shipped it off to The Agent once again. Ha.

The current book stats:

Pages, 400.
Words, 106,830.
Chapters, thirty-seven.
Cans of DDP, beyond counting.

So basically the book gained two chapters and lost a thousand words. It also gained a lot of awesome, which is good, because otherwise, it might have gained a date with a wood-chipper. I am very, very ready to be working on The Brightest Fell, aka, "Toby Daye, book five," aka, "Seanan, honey, can we please wait for Rosemary and Rue to come out before you finish the second set of three?" But dude, it's been waiting so patiently, and I've been neglecting it for so long. Book five needs love!

In conclusion...

...DINO DANCE PARTY!

Renji with color.

( Read more... )

*phone rings*
EK: Hello?
wtf: Hey, sup, I'm at Anime Expo and GUESS WHAT COPIC HAS TWELVE NEW SHADES
EK: OH DAAAAAMN
wtf: AND GET THIS THEY'RE 0000's
EK: FFFFFFF I CAME
*falls asleep and dreams of using BV0000 and G0000 markers for skin undertones*


ETA: mooncalf and itcomesinphases, I did y'all's sketch commissions. Will scan tomorrow evening.

Something of a buggy nature has bitten me on my left forearm and I now have a red circle there. Must not scratch. Must not scratch.

Really must work out when in the next month or so I'm going to visit home, so that I can book annual leave. Must also see about booking plane ticket to America for October.

Would like to stop down to the post office package depot before work tomorrow to pick up a package, but the forecasts of rain has me watching the skies. I can't help thinking that if it's going to be pouring with rain, I don't want to be walking twice the usual distance in it.

Also mildly irked to find that a yarn I had thought was machine-washable is in fact not machine-washable. The shawl I knitted with it is now smaller and thicker, though the colour remains pleasant. Oh well, I suppose this means I will just have to knit another shawl. Things could be worse.

---

O Captain! My Captain!

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up -- for you the flag is flung -- for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths -- for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

-- Walt Whitman

Well, my editor&mbsp;Mira's editor&mbsp;somebody's editor said very nice things about acquiring the Newsflesh trilogy. I am pleased and flattered.

Meanwhile, over on InevitableZombieApocalypse.com (which may be the best domain name ever), word is being spread, although they credit me, not Mira, as the author. Can one's own pseudonym come stalking in the night to wreak vengeance? It bears consideration. (They got their info from Media Bistro, which has a somewhat larger piece.)

The odds that I sold my soul at the crossroads for fame and fortune seem to be getting higher. On the plus side, it means the constant attendance of the Everything You Ever Wanted Fairy; I am hence not particularly disturbed.

Whee.

Next part of Winter War is up, by sophiap:

Karin: Keeping Up Appearances

(Previous parts here.)

Title: Winter War - Karin: Keeping up Appearances
Fandom: Bleach
Characters: Karin, Kon, Jinta, Ururu, Hinamori
Rating/Warning: PG-13 for language, references to character death
Word Count: c. 3,700
Notes: This is a rather dark AU co-plotted with incandescens and liralen. The war against Aizen's forces went very badly. Nothing is sacred and no one is safe.

Index post (Be sure to check out the index post to see the lovely banner by ravens_rising!)

Summary: Karin's life would be so much easier if she didn't have to pretend everything was normal.

( It wasn't Ichi-nii, no matter how much it looked like him. )

Hello thar~

The last couple days have been great, even though my aunt and uncle showed up and stole the guest bedroom (with the computer in it) away from me. XD On Friday they had organized a big thing (or 'shindig' XD ) for my mom's 50th... black balloons and gag gifts galore. It was so fun. They also fed me champagne... what are they thinking, giving me alcohol? Mwaha! 

Let's see, what else? Oh, on Thursday night I dragged everyone up to the pool for some midnight swimming! Okay, it wasn't midnight, more like ten, but it was dark out! And the water was so warm. *dance* It was heavenly. :D

The rest of the time I've just been chilling and going to the beach a lot. I started Wuthering Hights, didn't enjoy it that much, and stole my mom's book. >D Some family sekrits & affairs story called 'The Plantation' or something. Made me lol.

Also, me and my bff denial have become reaquainted again. Latest Bleach chapter, what? *whistles*

Anywaay, I have been able to get a little bit of writing done. I have another drabblish thing (~300 words) and I've started working on a multichapter! Which leads me to taking a poll of my flist. Okay, not quite a poll since the poll wizard and rich text hate my guys, but still.

What are your favorite Bleach pairings? List maybe about five~

Part of this is just curiousity. I'm interested to know the type of fans I managed to get on my flist, and who likes what. >D Pluus, I plan to be starting some multichaptered emsemble cast fics soon, and beyond ShunUki... I really don't care what pairings I use. I love anything/everything XD. One or two others might be necessary to the plot, but I'd love to see what pairings my flist would like to see. I know I squee like crazy whenever there's Shunsui or Ukitake in the background of the fics I read. >D

We're driving back to Georgia soon. Eight hour car drives ftw! 8D

Cut, because although I know at least a handful of people will click through, largely I cannot imagine this is of interest to anyone but myself. :)

( X-Men continuity, 2004 & beyond )

(x-posted from the essential kit)

Thought it was about time I did one of these again. Predictions for top 5 (so 2-6) hmm... ravens_rising, himlika, senbonzakura77, hu3long2, and erm... gabby0214. Possibly.

( Who comments the most on this journal? )

For various reasons, stayed up waaaay too late. I'm also coming down with a cold, probably 'cause I slacked off on taking my vitamins. Blargh.

Fireworks were cool. We managed to see them both in Azreoth, and in real life -- we weren't sure the weather would cooperate, but the thunderstorms cleared out, thankfully. We picked a rather far spot from the launch place, a train-station parking lot, but it turned out to have a decent view, and it was both easy to get into, easy to park at, and amazingly easy to leave. We did have to stand, though, which meant the kid was parked on my hip so she'd be up high enough to see best. (Both hips, actually, but only one hip at a time.) So between that and my earlier running around after her on her Big Bike (she's doing quite well on it!), my knees and lower back are rather achey.

I am progressing with edits on My Stuff. (Other Project is not going to go anywhere whilst I have a cold, at a minimum, but I can edit My Stuff while sick.) I am at the point where I once decided "this book too long; split book in two" -- and am just below 129K still (rather than the full, er, ~200K that it originally ran). I am, however, debating whether I need to re-insert a previously-cut chapter, or if it's actually just layering a complication on more heavily than it needs to be right now.

The thing's too long for conventional first-work stuff. So I have to make sure that each word is necessary and dragging the reader's eyeballs across the page by force, basically. Makes for a lot of trimming anyway, to reduce to the necessary words.

INwatch: Core Rules: 414, Lilith: 367, Eli: 343, Liber Umbrarum: 219, Litheroy: 204, Asmodeus: 175, Infernal Player's Guide: 112, GURPS In Nomine: 67.
Adventures: City On Fire: 111, Feast of Blades: 91, Strange Bedfellows: 85, The Rats' Revenge: 84.
Free Adventures: A Very Nybbas Christmas: 4119, The Sorcerer's Impediments: 2678.
Not IN: GURPS Classic All-Star Jam 2004: 50, Sahudese Fire Drill: 71. Not IN or mine: Vorkosigan Saga Sourcebook and RPG: 143.


( Eggs and hatchlings... )

I am showing up at the page today, not sure how many worlds will, but derrier is warming the chair. I will be there until it is time to leave for regular Sunday Brunch at 9:45 Mountain time.
http://tinychat.com/vjp2m
Robin

4th of July: We went out for Indian dinner to celebrate, on account of Columbus having been looking for India. It was a *really* good meal, yum.

Furniture: Our living room furniture, which was not new when we moved in, has devolved to the point that when you sit in it you sink into the depths of dischair, so one of the many points I negotiated for our new lease was new furniture. I volunteered to go look for it myself (to the landlord’s *obvious* relief), so I finally made a decision yesterday, got the amount to spend cleared by the landlord, and bought them (after driving only a moderately altered bargain; I could’ve done better, but it wasn’t my money so I didn’t care that much). So we get new chairs and a new two-seater couch on Tuesday. This room will look very different indeed. On the definite up side, the cats will fit beneath the new furniture, so they’ll be able to collect their own cat toys when they knock them beneath the couch. :)

Raspberries: we had a raspberry on our raspberry bush yesterday! In celebration, we plucked and ate it. It was awful. :)

A review of “Public Enemies” beneath the cut, because it got rather long and has some spoilers, though nothing big.

( movie review )

(x-posted from the essential kit)

Random Note: Weird to think about

Alright, so I was thinking... And yes, that's hardly ever a good thing.

Either way, most of you guys know I'm dyslectic. Essentially this means that my language procession in general and my reading and writing in specific is just slightly different from that of normal people.

Now this question might sound odd but my question is this:
How do normal people read?

I know how I read myself; I litterally read out loud inside my head. That also means I can't read any faster than you speak. It means interpunction is very important because that's how my inner voice pronounces a sentence and that, when reading out loud, I read at exactly the same pace as I talk, and I can't read ahead while speaking.

For years on end I've thought that's how everyone reads. Now I found out that it isn't. So there you go. How do you read?