✯ STRIKE ✯ A ✯ VIOLENT ✯ POSE ✯
✰ You're Never Gonna Fit In Much, Kid ✰
✬ THE BOYS & GIRLS IN THE CLIQUE ✬ 
28th-Nov-2009 12:18 am - Sales Over
All of the IJ holiday sales have ended and prices are back to normal. We will be putting Permanently Insane accounts on sale for their regular price before Christmas.
27th-Nov-2009 11:06 pm
Here is my [info]one_liners challenge set.

Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Claim: Cloud/Yuffie

Table Set One
27th-Nov-2009 08:05 am - Black Friday Sale is here
I have turned on today's special Black Friday sale.

Until 4:00pm(EST) we will be holding a sale on Permanently Insane accounts, Permanent Extra Userpics, and Insane Userpics the prices are as follows.

Permanently Insane account - $30
Insane Userpics - $70
Permanent Extra Userpics - $5

At 4:00 today all prices on IJ will go back to their normal amounts.
26th-Nov-2009 07:25 pm - HOSHIT, FRESH MEAT
Hi, everyone! My name is Chi! o/ And it is my ~esteemed honor~ to be your Clef-mun this evening. And the next and the next. I've been playing him elsewhere for a little while now, but since he's pretty much my favorite character ever please do let me know if I fail in any way.

I mean. I don't have a concrit post up yet, but yanno.

You could always use the one over at i_themagician @ lj. If I forget to put one up. Even though IP logging is turned on.

THIS IS A SMALL GAME, RIGHT? IT'S NOT LIKE I WON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE ANYWAY. B| MAN UP.



hi. ♥

SO YEAH, THAT'S ME. I'm a spaz and a derp, so I play derps and spazzes. This is my spaz character. I have implicitly promised to app Fujitaka here at some point, too. He is my derp. Because you have a Clow already.

SO UM FRIEND ADD CONDUCTYOURSELF EVEN THOUGH RHAP-CHAN ALREADY TOLD YOU TO. MAYBE YOU FORGOT IN BETWEEN READING THAT POST AND THIS ONE. ALTHOUGH SINCE POSTS ARE SHOWN IN DESCENDING ORDER FROM THE MOST RECENT, IT'S MORE LIKELY TO BE THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

WHATEVER. YOU GET THE IDEA. NOW GET IN THE KITCHEN AND MAKE ME A SAMMICH. B|



... So who are all you people? :3? ♥
25th-Nov-2009 11:03 pm - more friend adds~
Hi again, it's Rhap-chan. :3 This is Nadeshiko Kinomoto of Cardcaptor Sakura. And to save time, Presea and Clef from Magic Knight Rayearth are going to be here too. Presea is mine; Clef belongs to the lovely Chi, who might intro herself, since she's a new player I dragged her, thank me later.

Please, now~

friend add dianthus_bride
friend add pharles_at_life
friend add conductyourself
25th-Nov-2009 02:47 pm - Criminal Minds

About two weeks ago I watched an episode of the television show Criminal Minds for the first time.

I usually avoid police procedural show but I was interested because rock star Gavin Rossdale was guest-starring as a sort of strung-out vampire rock star (not that I’m exactly a Gavin Rossdale fan, but I liked him well enough in Constantine).

Watching the show I ended up being pretty impressed by androgynous boy genius Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) so yesterday when I saw there were reruns showing on several channels I ended up watching a couple episodes.

When not ogling Matthew Gray Gubler’s cheekbones, I was pleased to discover that Mandy Patinkin was on the earlier episodes of the show. I’ve had a thing for Mandy Patinkin for about 20 years—when I was in high school I listened obsessively to his recording of the musical Evita. Patinkin was gone in more recent episodes of the show, but I found myself surprised and unexpectedly pleased by another character, an FBI computer technician called Penelope Garcia (Kristen Vangsness).

Now I’ve always loved support staff type characters, from secretaries Marilyn (Northern Exposure) and Elaine (Ally McBeal) to sour techie Chloe (24) but in addition to her behind-the-scenes sort of position the thing about Garcia that really endeared her to me was that she was a female character on a mainstream television show who was not skinny. She was cute and sexy and curvy and plump and voluptuous. I don’t follow a lot of television shows but I honestly can’t think of the last time I saw a not skinny female character. Probably teenaged Sara Rue on Popular (she ended up slimming down for her own show Less Than Perfect).

I’ve watched a grand total of 3 ¾ episodes of Criminal Minds, so for all I know Garcia might be a totally stereotypical “overweight” character who does nothing but provide comic relief talk about diets but I don’t think so. It seemed to me like there was some sort of romantic thing going on between her and FBI agent, Morgan, and generally she seemed like someone who was really competent and well regarded by her peers. I’m really curious now to watch more of the show and she how she’s handled.



Photobucket

Photobucket

A couple super adorable pics of Kristen Vangsness as Penelope Garcia
25th-Nov-2009 11:40 am - Thanksgiving plans and dental visit

Tomorrow my grandmother, parents and I are going to be having Thanksgiving dinner at a neighbor’s house. 

 

Given my food issues Thanksgiving is always a little uncomfortable for me but oddly I’m not feeling my usual degree of anxiety this year.  I think it helps that I haven’t had to spend the last week dealing with the insanity of holiday crowds at an urban supermarket.  Also I don’t have to work on the holiday itself so I’ll have time to relax and do anything I need to do before hand instead of rushing to work at 7:00 a.m. then having to get to a celebration right afterwards like I have the past few years. 

 

Yesterday I went to the dentist for the first time in 12 years (I know it’s been 12 years because the last time I went was right before my little brother graduated from college which would make it 1997).  

 

It’s almost unforgivably irresponsible to let that much time lapse between dental visits. I have lots of excuses.   I hate going to the dentist.   Because I was bulimic in high school I had to suffer through some extensive dental work when I was in my late teens and early 20’s.  Frankly, it was traumatic.  Also I haven’t had dental insurance since 1998 and I don’t like paying out of pocket to be subjected to pain. 

 

Before I went for my appointment I was absolutely horrified that my teeth would be in such bad shape I’d need hours of expensive dental work to save them (I have recurring nightmares about losing my teeth).  Luckily my teeth were in pretty good shape considering the amount of time it’s been.  I’ll need a filling but that’s it.  Obviously I’m not looking forward to my follow-up appointment after Christmas but it’s a huge relief to know that my teeth are more or less okay.

23rd-Nov-2009 12:32 am - Meta meta meta on the table table table: Naming your Muses!
Found on DW's Metafandom comm, An entry about naming muses and nicknaming fics, I have decided to open a discussion about the subject here on IJ.

Do y'all name your muses? Do you have nicknames for your fics?

And stuff!! )
22nd-Nov-2009 10:18 pm - I had no icon for this entry.
So I am using this one because it is fun. :3 :3 ;3

Dear Muses,

Now that I'm starting on the Zero Princess Saga/Void Space Saga/Whatever the hell you want to call this series, Do not, I repeat, DO NOT, turn this into Viceroyverse done Kairi/Rinoa Style.

Please. I don't care how well it works, I don't care that it works on a multitude of levels. I don't care if it'd be cute (and about a quarter as creepy as Quistis/Kairi is!). I don't care if it makes a lot more sense than any other Kairi pairing in existence, Sora/Kairi included. But the Nonsense of Sora/Kairi is another show rant. Aaaanyway, no one would read it.

Even if it is a really good idea--

No. No. If you try and steer it in that direction, and we know that the one-sided Rinoa/Kairi in Braceletverse is enough, I will turn this brain around and write...umm...

I WILL MAKE US WRITE MPREG. SORA/KAIRI MPREG. HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES!?

No love,
Jordi.
22nd-Nov-2009 11:41 am - Fic: Dain af Niohoggr 3/30
Title: Dain af Niohoggr
Author: GW Katrina
Beta: Skeren
Fandom: FFVII: Mercverse
Claim: [info]mercverse for [info]story_arc
Themeset/Prompt: Thirty Set 01: Balance
Wordcount: 1,717
Ratings: PG-13
Link to Archive Post: Here


Dain af Niohoggr )
21st-Nov-2009 02:30 pm - IJ Holiday Sale
We are starting this years InsaneJournal holiday sale. From now until the end of the day Friday, November 27 we are going to be holding a sale on Self-Committed[paid] accounts and Extra Userpics.

The prices are be as follows

Self-Committed[paid]
1 Month -> $5
6 Month -> $15 $10
12 Month -> $25 $18

Extra Userpicx
6 Month -> $10 $5
12 Month -> $20 $15

Then on Friday November 27th from 8am until 4pm (Eastern US time) we will be running a very special sale on Permanently Insane accounts.
20th-Nov-2009 05:42 pm - thankful for unemployment?

I went to the supermarket yesterday.  There were fairly long lines with the pre-Thanksgiving crowd and the cashiers were hauling whole turkeys over the scanners. 

 

I was very grateful not to be working in a supermarket anymore. 

 

In fact, the market was always open on Thanksgiving and I started working there in September of 2006 so this is going to be the first Thanksgiving since 2005 where I won’t have to go to work. 

18th-Nov-2009 07:15 pm - WHOOOOOOO~!!!
I got hired by Tim Horton's.

No, I did not move to Canada. Canada? Who's that?

But I did get hired. To the second place I applied to.

I start on Friday.

OMG OMG OMG.

Now, fast food is not my ideal employment situation. However, not being broke is my ideal situation!

BE EXCITED WITH ME, GUYS!

I HAVE GOOD NEWS!!!!



Also I kinda quit Nanowrimo. But that's not important! I have a job now.
17th-Nov-2009 02:48 pm - Passing ENDA - Call your reps! National Call-In Day for Equality
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=180630476026&ref=nf

As we move closer to a House vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination, we need to burn up the phone lines to Congress, and let them know that ENDA is next, ENDA is NOW! We must let Congress know how important ENDA is to LGBT people and all those who care about equality. With your help we can end job discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Tomorrow is the National Call-In Day for Equality. It’s the day when we flood Congress with our calls demanding equality in the workplace. Tomorrow, talk to Congress. Call them at (202) 224-3121. Give your zip code and ask to be connected to your Senators, and then your Representative. If you haven’t contacted your elected officials, NOW IS THE TIME. Let them know that you support ENDA and you want them to support it, too. If you already have, please do it again.

Prefer to email your representative and senators? Click here and urge them to pass ENDA.

Talk to your friends, family and neighbors and let them know. Start with the simple opening: "Did you know that Congress is considering workplace legislation? Did you know that only 40% of the country is covered are clear laws protecting LGBT people from discrimination?" Ask the people in your life how they feel about that. Then tell them they can help protect people from discrimination based on who they are--ask them to take action.

Share this event with your friends and family and ask them to join this event and pledge an email or phone call to Congress.

It just takes a minute to do your part to end discrimination in the work place.
17th-Nov-2009 02:01 pm - inglourious dreams

Last night I had a dream that was backstory for Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. I was a young girl in a very wealthy family and the Basterds were using our decrepit summer estate for training. My mother cautioned me very strongly against associating with the Basterds but I think I sort of had a thing for Donny (aka the Bear Jew) who I referred to as a Golem.

17th-Nov-2009 10:12 am
I've been busy and exhausted. Dunno why I'm so tired, I just am. I slept most of my two days off away. I meant to write. Heck I meant to get to the library to borrow some of my suggested reading. Instead I made a cake for my sister, slept, and started a knitting project (which does take hours for me cause I keep starting and restarting it until I have something halfway decent on the sticks).

Somewhere I found the energy for reading posts and internet games. I responded to a few, but meh. I'm in a mopey tired mood for no reason. Hopefully this week at work won't be as hard as last weeks but since we're swinging into Christmas season I don't hold out a lot of hope.

I feel like my brain has been fried.
17th-Nov-2009 12:42 am - Christmas Music is what I need to be in good spirits. :3
I'm in good spirits.

I don't clain a religion, but I love Christmas and everything about it. Especially the music. In fact, I like the holiday so much that I can't imagine not celebrating it. I don't claim a religious affiliation, but Christmas is fun.

Which is why I understand, but won't agree at all, with those Atheists who insist that Real Atheists don't celebrate Christmas.

First and foremost, "Real" Atheists don't believe in any deities or supernatural things (though I know of some that believe in the possibility of, oh, aliens and parallel universes), that's it. Second, the holiday itself has become more secular than sacred, so I'm sure that celebrating Christmas is perfectly safe for even the strongest of Atheists.
16th-Nov-2009 11:58 pm - YAY!
One of the local radio stations is playing Christmas music nonstop.

This makes me happy. I'm not sure why.
16th-Nov-2009 01:06 pm - where do they make subtext?

I just finished watching season 1 of the television show Heroes and I can honestly say I’m a little obsessed. It’s not a great show but it is totally my kind of show, a sort of sprawling mishmash of elements from X-Men, Watchmen and the Manchurian Candidate and post 9/11 paranoia with lots of grandiose themes, moral ambiguity, family dysfunction and general angst.

I find myself particularly fascinated by the relationship between Peter and Nathan Petrelli. They’re brothers—Peter is a hospice nurse and Nathan is a lawyer running for Congress—but the intensity of their interactions makes them seem more like lovers.

I always wonder where stuff like (i.e. homoerotic and/or incestuous subtext) this comes from, is it intentional or just a quirk of chemistry? In some cases it’s conscious (on the DVD commentary for 28 Days Later for instance, Danny Boyle acknowledges that yet, Major Henry West is acting in a seductive manner towards Jim) I always wondered if while he was making Reservoir Dogs Quentin Tarantino told Tim Roth and Harvey Keitel to play Mr. Orange and Mr. White as a romance or if it just happened.

Some actors I’ve noticed just seem to have a particular gift for getting all over their male co-stars in a suggestive way. Viggo Mortensen (see him with William Hurt in A History of Violence or Vincent Cassel at the end of Eastern Promises) and Peter Stormare (Constantine, Prison Break, the Brothers Grimm) immediately come to mind but there are definitely others.

And speaking of slashy goodness…

Now that I’m done season 1 of Heroes I’ve started watching season 2 of the BBC show Merlin. Amusingly the season premiere starts off with scenes of Merlin rushing to a shirtless Arthur’s bedside and later Gwen doing the same for Morgana. In this series, I definitely think the homoerotic subtext is very conscious. There’s too much of it for it to be anything else.

I have mixed feelings about Merlin. On the one hand it feels like a rehash of the first couple seasons of Smallville in a medieval setting. Of course originality isn’t everything, but there’s a certain stagnancy to the show. It seems to tread water, never moving forward. Each episode seems to return it to a status quo. That said I do enjoy watching it because it’s so well done and beautiful to look at. The costumes and scenery and production design is wonderful. I’ve never seen a show with more vivid use of color. Katie Mcgrath and Angel Coulby, the young actresses who play Morgana and Gwen are absolutely exquisite. I could stare at Colin Morgan’s (Merlin’s) cheekbones all day and Anthony Stewart Head (Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) is wonderful and magnetic as the very ambiguous King Uther.

16th-Nov-2009 11:37 am - postive things

I’m feeling much better than I was when I posted back on the 9th. 

 

My health insurance finally came through so I’m taking my medication at the proper dosage once again.  I’ve also taken steps to get my daily calorie intake up to a level where I’m functioning instead of just surviving. 

 

Other positive things—

 

After a couple weeks with nothing promising on the job front, about four positions have come up in the past few days that I’m going to apply for.  Maybe something will work out.  Not that I’m terribly eager to get back to work (because let’s face it, its work) but I’d feel a bit more secure with a steady income and some reliable health insurance coverage. 

 

The weather is wonderfully mild for mid-November, temperatures in the 50’s and 60’s this last week. 

 

I’m getting back into the habit of writing everyday, which is great.  When I’m not writing I always feel sort of directionless.  Practicing and honing my craft gives me a real sense of purpose and accomplishment.   

 

I find taking care of my grandmother really rewarding.  Since I moved in with her, I’ve taken over changing the bedding every week and yesterday she thanked me for that and was telling me what a terrible time she used to have doing it by herself and how much easier having me around made life for her.  It really makes me feel good knowing I’m helping her even if it is in a very small and simple way.

16th-Nov-2009 10:59 am - Well, this was Dumb
I am this close to asking my aunt if I can spend Thanksgiving Break camped out in her sunroom (or the garage) writing and drawing, and be excused from dinner prep and family socializing. Because, despite not doing NaNo, I am feeling overwrought with projects. I did finish my [info]scifibigbang fic (only two weeks after I was supposed to do the rough draft), and am working on my [info]slayers_request fic. The outline looks long, so I might have to go at NaNo rates to get it done in time to edit. Plus, I need to rewatch some anime for [info]yuletide, and I missed MAX entirely*, and gah!

It didn't help that I spent this weekend feeling sick to my stomach sporadically -- tea and quiet time away from the computer seemed to help. And I'm not entirely sure it isn't stress, since it's coming back as I write this. So now I get to spend today doing grading that I meant to do over the weekend -- if I didn't have group therapy, I'd be camping in Borders to avoid the Internets**. And tomorrow there's dinner with the DGS, which I am tempted to skip work before so I can bake and get my kitchen clean enough that I can call in someone to fix my garbage disposal and find out why the sink drains so slowly.

* As much as I love the Anniversary round, I might drop MAX until January just to give myself time to recuperate. And bow out of [info]mrcaex in December as well.

** A lot of the off-campus coffee shops around here have a 'fifteen minutes every hour for free' policy. Their firewalls don't block ssh or ftp programs, though, so I can still remotely work from them, just not use email or my web browser or chat programs.
15th-Nov-2009 08:12 pm - Fic: Dain af Niohoggr 2/30
Title: Dain af Niohoggr
Author: GW Katrina
Beta: Skeren
Fandom: FFVII: Mercverse
Claim: [info]mercverse for [info]story_arc
Themeset/Prompt: Thirty Set 01: Spar
Wordcount: 2044
Ratings: PG-13
Link to Archive Post: Here


Dain af Niohoggr )
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