It Started with a Journal

Hello LJ chums! I find myself in a very good mood because it's FRIDAY and I'm looking forward to the weekend. Tomorrow adelagia and I are going to Boiling Point, and then there will be gameage. Last week we ROCKED the game of Pandemic that we played. That's right, we saved the whole world from disease and no one even realized it... it's like we're real superheroes.

I lost to the esteemed carrie_leigh in the last round of the Hump Bracket Challenge, so here are the drabbles I wrote. It was really fun to participate, and I got to stretch a bit and practice writing outside my comfort zone. Great experience.

( Round One: 'Keeping Promises' | Marcus Flint, Katie Bell, Draco Malfoy, Adrian Pucey | PG-13 )

( Round Two: 'More Than This' | Pansy Parkinson, Draco Malfoy, Ginny Weasley, Seamus Finnigan | NC-17 )

For the third round, I actually have three drabbles to share with you. >.> The first is the one I actually submitted. The second is the one I wrote first. And the third is the one I wrote second. Clear as mud? See, what happened is that the first drabble I wrote, jade_okelani and I both had qualms about whether it really spoke to the prompt I was given. So then I wrote another one. I sent it over to Jade to beta almost at exactly the same time that she sent me her story to beta, which which I resisted reading until I'd finished my story. The second I started reading her story my heart sank -- WE HAD CHOSEN THE EXACT SAME PAIRING! And not only that, approached it in a nearly identical way. Guys, for the most part it's great to share a brain with someone, but at times it can be a trial. :)) So it was back to the drawing board once more, to write the story I actually submitted. There's no reason for me to hold any of them back, so here's all three of them. :P

( Round Three (submitted): 'Just Once' | Sirius Black, Lily Evans | PG-13 )

( Round Three: 'Fueling the Flames' | Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley | NC-17 )

( Round Three: 'He Remembers' | Severus Snape, Lily Evans | PG-13 )

I finally watched the last episode of S4 of The Wire. Even though I knew what was coming, I still cried. I didn't even cry when this happened! Though I was still super bummed. I ended up really enjoying the season -- I really liked the kiddie crew. I also watched the first season of S5, and it's always tough at the beginning to get used to a whole new host of characters again.

Every now and then I get a bee in my bonnet about ASoIaF theories, particularly my two favorite: Who are Jon Snow's parents and Who is Azor Ahai? I wish people would update their essays with ADWD text/proof. Le sigh.

This is a "Who are Jon Snow's parents?" essay that I haven't read before. It gets more in depth than this one about all the potential mothers and fathers, but the latter essay provides more actual book references. Both are good reads.

I loved reading this about what exactly happened during Robert's Rebellion. We get our info in such bits and pieces from various characters that it's hard to put together a clear picture of what happened when. This essay provides a great timeline of events.

Teeheeheehee:



Have a faboo weekend everyone!

Happy birthday, akscully! May your summers be long, your Starkcest be plenty, and your quest for alcohol be fruitful. <3

We are now in the Sweet Sixteen of Hump Madness. Thank you to everyone who voted me on... even if you didn't know you weren't doing it since it's anonymous. :D Anyway, the Sweet 16 Slytherin and Hufflepuff brackets are up here. Go vote for 4 of the 8 lovely drabbles available for your reading pleasure! Any guesses on which of the drabbles is mine? :D

I'm now in the middle of S3 of The Wire. S2 was not nearly as good as S1, and S3 is shaping up to be about the same as S2. S1 was just so charged and emotional, and that same level of emotion just hasn't been matched yet. I love Herc and Carver, though. They're like the original Troy and Abed. Aidan Gillen is in S3 and he plays a smarmy politician. Hmm... what's familiar about that... When fandoms collide!

Last night I went to Joule with J. ( All of the eating. )

Went to a 5-year-old's birthday party on Saturday. The sun was out, but it was still freaking cold, especially when the wind blew. K. got a selection of sandwiches from Macrina, and the roast beef and mushroom was far and away the best. For dinner they made spaghetti with a parsley, chard and walnut pesto (note to self: should make pesto more often, even if basil's not involved), which was delicious. Even more delicious was the Bakery Nouveau chocolate cake. I got the 8" one even though there weren't many of us because we all love it so much that leftover chocolate cake would be welcomed by all. Afterward we played Ticket to Ride and Pandemic. OMG D. takes sooooooooooo long with his turns. We could get a whole other game in if he didn't take so long. >< I'm typically very decisive when I play games so when others take forever I'm like, "Goooooooooooooooooooooo." :))

So that was my weekend. Too short as usual. Sigh.

Living Social's deal today: $9 for 2 tickets to Fandango. Pretty good deal if you go to watch movies at all (or is an excuse to go!). Limit 1 per person. The promo amount expires in June, but the amount you pay is still good for some time after that, which is unusual and pretty cool of them to do.

I am the laziest person in the mornings (and okay, in general). I will do almost anything to be able to sleep 10 minutes longer. I set my alarm for 20-30 minutes earlier, so that I have time to put on my makeup and maybe grab a little breakfast, or if I'm REALLY ambitious, I set the alarm even earlier and figure I might curl my hair. More often than not -- in fact, almost always -- I stagger out of bed when the alarm goes off (my 'alarm' is just a CD player, but it's not next to the bed), re-set the alarm for 10-20 minutes later, and dive back under the covers. This happens 1-2 times, each time justifying in my head why I am allowed to sleep a little longer. When I finally can't avoid it anymore, I get out of bed and rush through what I have to do, because at this point I have to rush or I'll be late. There's minimal makeup (if any; sometimes I end up putting it on in the car), no breakfast, and definitely no hair curling. On the better days, now that I have a Keurig, sometimes there is a cup of coffee.

So yesterday was a pretty typical morning for me. I threw on what was convenient that wasn't my pajamas and ran out of the house. It wasn't until I got to work that I realized I was wearing my shirt that has the Hogwarts coat of arms on the front. "Maybe no one will notice," I thought. Except EVERYONE noticed and felt they had to make a comment about it. I brazened my way through most of the comments -- "I am wearing this because I am just a really cool person" -- but omg it was pretty embarrassing. It wasn't just people I knew, perfect strangers commented (though they were usually nicer, like, "I like your shirt"). It was really hard not to be overly defensive, like, "I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING, THAT I MUST WRITE HARRY POTTER FANFIC. WELL I DON'T. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT FANFIC IS."

And the day before THAT, on the bus on the way home, I suddenly had a HUGE craving for steak. Like, I had to have it. It was the first day of Aunt Flo's visit and I guess I felt like I needed to replenish my body with iron or something, because I was determined to have a bloody steak for dinner. I even thought about going to Outback or something, but I'm trying to be more responsible when it comes to my budget, and eating steak in restaurants is kind of a waste when it's so easy to do at home. I also desperately needed to pee. So of COURSE this is the week that Safeway has no steaks on special. Thank goodness for my Windows Phone 7 because I was able to check the weekly specials at Fred Meyer next door and see that they had NY steaks on 'sale' (in quotes because I don't think $4.99/lb is really that great a price, especially for supermarket steak, but certainly better than the $8-10/lb Safeway was asking for theirs), so I booked it over. Actually this was in the midst of rush hour, so even though it was right next door, it still took like 10 minutes. There was ONE package of NY steaks with the special pricing left, and I swear, had anyone else approached them at that point, I would have been like, "I will KILL you." I guess I was inspired by Jamie Oliver (I've been watching his "30-Minute Meals" episodes and they're seriously awesome, I'm kind of in love with him now), because I had dinner done in half an hour. Steak, broccoli, cheesy English muffins, and mashed potatoes and gravy. Everything but the last I made/cooked; the potatoes were nuked leftovers. And last night I made potatoes for real -- Jamie's "cheat" on roasted potatoes, and they were quick and sooooo good.

I've been continuing to noodle about what to make for the Dinner with 12 Strangers this Saturday, and last night took out Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum. I love her books but I know from other stuff I've made by her that she is NOT beginner friendly. Man is this especially true of this book!! This one cake recipe was like, no joke, TEN PAGES LONG. They are all gorgeous though. I'll have to scan some of them and show you guys. I think there are two possibilities that I have in mind right now. One is a Gâteau Breton, which is basically like a tart-cake-shortbread combo type thing, and the other is something I'll have to cobble together from an idea I got looking through the book: an orange-flavored cake with orange curd, covered with a chocolate ganache. Chocolate and orange together is a flavor combination that, after years of trying it out, I've finally started to enjoy very much.

Edit: Does anyone have £3,000 they want to lend me? Or give me, I'm not picky. Ted Nasmith is apparently selling some of his original artwork, including the art he did for the A Song of Ice and Fire 2011 calendar (which ropo got me for Christmas :D). Probably my favorite is the one of Winterfell, though I also like Castle Black and The Wall, and Storm's End (couldn't find a direct link).

The authors for the D/G ficathon have been revealed, so I can finally link you guys to my story (for those of you who weren't following along the ficathon): After All These Years, written for anja_foley, rated NC-17.

I want to thank applecede and inkpuddle for putting the ficathon together; it's always a massive undertaking to manage something like this, so major props to them. :-) You can check out all the stories here. Seriously, there were some great fics written.

I'm too lazy to make a separate post on this, so I'm just going to cut it for disinterested parties. It's been awhile since my last WoW update (or it feels like it anyway), and something HUGE has happened in the last couple of days. ( Well, huge to me, at least! )

Meeting corianderstem tonight at Rikki Rikki for her second try at sushi. Yum!

Okay, this opinion might make me really unpopular, but I can't keep it in any longer. ( Tell me I'm not alone. )

Remember when Harry and Co. were pretty? Well, there was a time I thought so, even if that time has passed. But like, what happened to the Harry and Draco who looked like this? Well, maybe not exactly like that, but look how good their hair looks! (I can't imagine that all the H/D fans haven't already seen it, but it's the first time I've encountered it, and wow, what a fabulous manipulation. Thanks to gnrationfo for linking from his journal.)

( College football stuff. )

You might be surprised to hear that I am actually still writing. It's coming along slowly, but I'll take what I can get at this point. The problem is I have a few VM fic ideas I'd really like to write, but I've still got HP fics on my plate. I've never been a multi-fandom sort of person -- I tend to pick an obsession and stick with it, at least when it comes to writing -- but maybe this is the start of a whole new me. I find that I still love and enjoy D/G, even if the words don't come as easily as they used to. I think part of the trouble is that my brain is filled with words for VM atm. :)) Maybe if I give them the opportunity to purge themselves on my computer, that'll make room for the other stuff. (I'd also like to write in the Firefly universe before all is said and done, and yes, even World of Warcraft. Jade and I even planned out a whole Prince of Persia fic that probably won't get written. Hee.)

( A few thoughts on D/P from HBP )

Volume 9 of Hot Gimmick recently came out and I devoured it on Saturday. The wait for the next volumes is going to drive me over the edge. (Though I've cheated and read fan translations of the upcoming chapters up till the very final one. I don't know what's taking so long!!)

I've also now read all three Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books. ( And...? )

I finally met a cool person while playing WoW, that I can actually stand to interact with on a regular basis. The problem is, he's 14. It's like having a younger brother I can't actually abuse. But he's very sweet, so I don't feel the need to abuse him...yet. heinous_bitca, I checked, and he's not your same 14-year-old. Gah.

I've been fighting off massive writer's block lately, and wanted to write something fun and fluffy to get the creative juices flowing again. This was the result. It's reallllly fluffy, if you're in the mood for that sort of thing. If you're not, FLEE. Flee to the hills.

( 'Why I'm Glad Ginny Is Dating Draco Malfoy' | Draco/Ginny | Ron POV | PG-13 | 5,500 words )

Portkey Party is done, at last. *weeps with joy*

You can read the final part here or here.

I hope everyone is doing well and that your holidays are splendiferous!!

Now I must watch/get in the way of my dad grilling New York steak (my favorite!) for dinner. Mmmmmsteaaaakkkk.

Okay, have just seen this cast picture.

1) Is it just me, or is Bonnie Wright looking hot?! She looks a) really, really good for the first time ever; b) better than Emma Watson in this photo, because Emma's clothes need serious help and it's not one of her better shots (normally there'd be no comparison).

2) Why do all these British boys, with the exception of the Slytherin trio, seem to think that it's the 1960s? What is with the HAIR?

3) Why does Tom Felton's hair look like a weird green afro? Though I prefer it to the shaggy looks the other boys are sporting.

4) I'm a bit annoyed with the kid who plays Seamus, because he's covering up hot!Goyle. From what we can see, Goyle looks pretty good, though. :D Also, if Seamus weren't there, 'Draco' and 'Ginny' would be next to each other. HEE. Damn that Seamus.

5) Daniel was looking hot to me until this photo. The hair - blech. The ROLLED-UP JEANS: NO. And the height is now not helping matters. I thought he was taller than that. Now he's reminding me of Frodo.

This snarky moment brought to you by the letters B-I-T-C-H.

Edit: selinakyle47 linked me to a better photo. It takes care of problem #3, Emma looks better, and we can see Goyle! Yay!