glorydale's Friends

5:16PM

... I don't suppose anyone has a copy of the Grinch song that they'd be willing to share? I thought I had a copy, but apparently I don't. Am v. sad about that.

7:30PM - FM-PMS

current chapter word count: unknown (I don't count the words on 10+ A5 scribble pages!)
issues addressed (on paper): "I claim your life!", runes, Sakurantics, Yuelogy, and there's now a scene with a tipsy Subaru, which might or might not end up in the epilogue or Business As Usual.
quote of the day: "Don't worry. You were absolutely adorable."

related side-note: X-1 to X-18.5 in epub-format on the Sony reader - the one shelf of my book cases I always wished to have with me 24/7. Tomorrow will see TB (and the entering of the scribbles).

This entry has comments here on Dreamwidth.
Please comment there using OpenID.

12:52PM - Don't eat while reading this. Eeesh.

By the way, hearkening back to my earlier post--this doesn't spoil anything, since you can see on the Yuletide list of requested fandoms that no one asked for it--I did not get assigned to write for Richard Adams's The Plague Dogs. I decided, when I accidentally included it in the list, that rather than redo my list I'd just go read the book once and for all, even before the assignments came out, so I got it from the library.

I got through Ulysses easier than this. This is...guys, I have written some interesting metaphors myself in my time, some of them admittedly more purple than should be seen outside of crackfic, but this takes them all:

...Rowf's rump slid suddenly forward as smoothly as a turd from a healthy anus...

I can't even facepalm. It's too squicky.

5:41PM - This and That

* Hope all who celebrate Thanksgiving had a wonderful time spent with family and friends.

* The Girl Child went to the Black Friday sales this morning. At 4:49, while I was doing some serious sleeping, she texted. Scared me to death. Why did she text at that unholy hour, you ask... because she spotted John Travolta at the mall. Jesus. She's a freak.

* The Boy Child had to work today - so no shopping for him. Instead, he gave the Girl a list and his debit card. He gave his sister his fucking debit card. When she was going to a mall. The boy is an idiot. Honestly.

* It's chilly here in the Sunshine State tonight. Lovely thing, that. Right along with the Criminal Minds marathon on A&E.

* And, on a Criminal Minds note, this week's episode killed me. Dead. *pets the CM team*

2:13PM - unexpected Hardware Squee - Sony e-book reader

Since this Wednesday, I'm the proud owner of a Sony PRS-505 e-book reader (in silver). I've been wary about e-book reading devices for a long time - expensive, incompatible proprietary formats, horribly overpriced e-books in Germany, DRM, intrusive companies (Amazon deleted bought books on the fly!) - but recently, Sony dropped the price for the key-operated device by a hundred euros, adopted the open standard epub along with its proprietary formats and - let's face it - the lack of inbuilt WiFi (in comparison to the Amazon devices) comes as a large plus with respect to my books & privacy, so...

( Squee! )

This entry has comments here on Dreamwidth.
Please comment there using OpenID.

9:02AM - Nobel Prize? For a human rights activist in Iran? U Can Not Has!

You stay classy, Ahmadinejad, you just stay classy...

10:28PM - And six days later, she exploded in a great cloud of superannuation!

That's right! In six days, on December second, I, Cluegirl, shall spontaneously become The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. (Line forms to the right, gratuities are appreciated.) For those hoopy froods who don't speak Hitchiker, I'll be turning 42.

I expect it to be nothing at all like being 41 has been, but just in case, I've liquidated my assets, put everything into canned goods and shotgun ammunition, and have stapled my towel firmly to my elbow. With that, and my wand in my back pocket, I expect I'll be ready for anything. Except possibly zombies. Zombies take a little more preparation.

As for what I want for my birthday?
No frelling idea.

I mean, there are the old standards, of course; I always get a bit giddy at just the notion that someone might illustrate one of my stories, or conversely, might write a story for one of my drawings. Collaboration is highly squee-some in my little world, y'see, and I swear that one day SOMEONE will illustrate the mirror scene from Pink Slip, and I shall expire of Happy on the spot.

I could wish for world peace and the brotherhood of man, but I've noticed how shittily brothers treat each other, and as we all know, the last time the matrix was configured for world peace, it crashed and we lost whole crops to the logic failure. So that's out.

But reining things back into the realm of the distantly plausible, I'd say I want for more or less nothing of note. I want to keep rolling on Tempus Fugitive. I want my cats and my snakes to stay healthy in the coming year. I want the resources to close up the hole in my house properly, and to begin the next major set of repairs (Hopefully before the porch falls entirely OFF Mandala House, thanks!)

And most importantly, I want my friends who are in reach to join me for a Solstice party on December 19th, to celebrate both my birthday, and the Sun King's in one swat. The date is positive; December 19th. Save it, and if you can possibly make it to Troy, NY, do consider coming! And don't worry if you're not of the witchy persuasion -- I plan no heresy, just cake and shenanigans.

10:07PM - Also, being by myself, I got to watch anything I wanted on tv, not football. Anime yaoi, ho!

I had to work part of the holiday, so I just counted the time I did have off as a good thing, and took it easy rather than make plans with others. I did make time to make a yummy dinner for myself from scratch:

Chicken with sun-dried tomatoes in dijon-riesling-cream sauce
Sesame noodles
Spicy peanut butter soup
Tart green salad with proscuitto and asiago and warm balsamic dressing
Warm butterscotch-maple pudding

I love mixing cuisines.

10:43AM - Kitchin Witchin! -- Clue Hash; it's what's for breakfast!

A note of explanation: Dominus is a boy scout. As such, he has the requisite Scouting addiction to Corned Beef Hash. Anywhere we go to eat, if it's got hash on the menu, I immediately know what my husband will be ordering, no matter what else they may serve. Seriously, he loves the stuff so much that from time to time, he'll scratch the hash itch with tinned. Clearly, this was a situation I could not abide. I mean, if you're gonna feed your monkey, feed it the good stuff, right? So here's what we're having for breakfast today.

* Go to your deli, and ask for a butt end of corned beef. Anything over a quarter of a pound is great, and they don't need to slice it for you. You'll be mincing it up at home yourself.

* If you are pork-compliant, then chop up three good, fatty strips of bacon, and put them in a BIG, flat-bottomed pan on low heat. (The object here is to render their fat, not to cook the bacon; cooking the bacon is a side effect of the rendering.)

* If you are pork-resistant, then do the 2 - 1 mix of olive and sesame oils here, to add the smoky taste of the bacon.

* Peel a few cloves of garlic, and crush them with the flat of your knife. Throw those in with the bacon to render.

* go out to the sage bushes, and get a handful of fresh leaves. Throw those in whole too.

* Add a generous drizzle of oil into the pan to help the bacon give it up in case it's a bit chary. I think I put about two tablespoons of olive (because I keep olive oil ready to hand. You can use whatever kind of oil you fancy, really.)

* Rough-chop a medium onion (red ones are tastiest!) and enough potatoes to match volume, then half again. In my kitchen, that was three small blue potatoes, and one large red. (I have goth tubers. No one's surprised, I know.) You want to cut them fairly large, but fairly thin -- that is to say, quarter each potato longways, and then slice the pieces about half an inch thick at most. They need to be large enough that they'll hold together, but thin enough to cook all the way through. In my case, the blue potatoes were a bit elderly, so they didn't need any pre-cooking, but I slung the red in the microwave for two turns at 30 seconds apiece, so its texture would match the others. You do as you see fit.

* Take your biggest kitchen knife -- this is the time to break out your cleaver, if you've got one, -- hack your corned beef into crumbles. There's no rhyme or reason to this, you just whack away, and try not to let it fly all over the place.

* Once the bacon's not showing any white anymore (that is, all its fatty rind should now be caramel coloured and kind of translucent) you can dump the onion, potatoes, and beef into the pot. If you don't have enough oil to lightly coat everything, then add just a little more, but otherwise, just turn the lot to get it evenly mixed and coated, throw in salt and pepper to taste, pat it all down flat in the pan, and walk away.

* Ignore the sizzling, and the searing smells from the pan for a good long time. Hash is SUPPOSED to be kind of scorchy and burny, remember? If it really distressed you, you can fuss it about for awhile first, to try and get everything to cook up, but that's kind of redundant, since you're going to settle it to scorch soon anyway, and when you flip it over to do the other side, everything else will cook up then.

* Fry up an egg for each person you'll be feeding. (From our stovetop, it looks like this is going to feed four, which means two for us today, and two lunches for Dominus later on.) Scrape all the good stuff up from the bottom of the pan, and ladle the hash into the plates, then slap the egg on top.

* Serve with tabasco, worchestershire sauce, and ketchup on the table, but don't be surprised if your guests don't even notice they're there all.

* Make this noise: OM NOM NOM!!!

* Wish you were eating breakfast with Clue and Dominus today!

7:50PM - Forcibly postitve...

Things for which I am thankful this evening:

* The Litter and the Leaves, by Enter the Haggis (And as you can purchase their albums directly from them, or, should you prefer it, cherrypick their song library at a buck a pop, YOU SHOULD BE DOING THAT!)

* That I have a husband who will close his computer and help me figure out why I'm grumpy when there's no easy answer, instead of taking it personally, or hiding in his WoW.

* That I have a husband who will close his computer and march straight into the kitchen with me when, upon failing to nail down a smoking gun, I give up and say "Let's go cook something." Didn't even ask what, or why, or complain that he'd rather be doing else. In short, he loves me, AND he loves cooking with me, and how can that not cheer me up?

* That I did not burn the orange peel when I forgot it was boiling away on the stove. I caught it JUST before the water was all gone, and the caramel began to really scorch, so there'll be no using the leftover syrup as I'd intended, but at least my candied orange peel survived!

* That Hilfy is here to inform me of the error of my ways, with her adorkable sulky-duck miao. *Snoodlesthekitteh!*

* That I did not burn out the blender motor when I made it pretend it was a food processor, and grind up all my carrots and ginger for the carrot cake I've just decided I'm making. That thing SO does not owe me!

* That I am living a life which allows me to concern myself with unfairnesses to other people, instead of having to focus on injustices against myself or my family. That I can afford altruism, and idealism, and pride. These things are so impossible, so out of reach in so many other people's lives, I can't help feeling gratitude that I can reach them, and I can afford to speak to them as well. I have the luxury of being able to DO something that is not just for me.

* That I live across the country from any of my birth family, and so will not have to eat their idea of Holiday Food tomorrow. Nor will I have to endure the casual, unthinking racism and sexism over the table, either. Which is good, because getting arrested over Thanksgiving is bad for the digestion, I hear.

* Giada Dilaurentis. Nuff said.

* That we've had contractors actually return our calls on the house issues, and it looks as though we'll have managed to save enough to cover the sill replacement by the time they can schedule us in. And once that is done, we can repair the great, gaping HOLE in our house! Hooray!

Okay then. That's lifted my mood from the stew. Time to go assemble my carrot cake now!
Avaunt!

8:37AM - What's this? Clue's linking to some GOOD news for once?

Yes. Yes, she bloody well is.

UN unveils Network of Men to fight abuse of women
UN Secretary-General Bn Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon said men's attitudes to women needed to change

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has unveiled a Network of Men Leaders to act as male role models in a campaign opposing violence against women.

He urged all men to join the campaign, saying about 70% of women experience some form of physical or sexual violence from men.

The 14 men currently in the network include Spanish PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Wednesday is the International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women.

This is the 10th anniversary of the founding of the day.

'Global chorus'

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho and Norwegian Justice Minister Knut Storberget are also among those chosen for the new list.

They had all demonstrated a commitment to oppose violence against women, said Mr Ban, adding that the group was expected to grow.

"These men will add their voices to the growing global chorus for action," he said.

Speaking at the UN headquarters in New York, the secretary-general called on men and boys around the world to join the campaign.

Victim of violence (posed by model)
Women are most at risk from violent partners or a man they know

"Break the silence," he said. "When you witness violence against women and girls, do not sit back. Act. Advocate. Unite to change the practices and attitudes that incite, perpetrate and condone this violence."

He said it was unacceptable that so many women experienced some form of physical or sexual violence from men - mostly from their husbands, intimate partners, or someone they knew.

He said men must teach each other that real men do not violate or oppress women - and that a woman's place is not just in the home or in the fields but in schools, offices and boardrooms.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the South African Nobel Peace Laureate, said: "You are a weak man if you use your physical superiority to assault and brutalise women.

"I will continue fighting until the end of my days for the right of women and girls to live a life free from violence and abuse."

10:16PM - adkjfaks;djfs;jdf;sadfjk;dsjfaks;dfj;

http://astolat.livejournal.com/214725.html

(or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx_w7fXeQ30)

*flail*

ALSO LOL:



(haha actually this totally feels to me like a vid sockkpuppett would make if she had unlimited resources and Adam Lambert to work with, although I have faith she would totally have put in more boys groping Adam, SIGH)

(ps if you don't get that connection you have not seen the genius that is her Vogue)

You can also read this entry on Dreamwidth ( comments)

10:09PM - No diploma for you, Fattie!

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/item/obese-students-may-be-barred-from-degree/tough-love/

You know, I'd still have a problem with this, even if they made UNDERWEIGHT students take the same 'health and fitness class' in order to graduate as the so-called "obese" students. Less of a problem, but still a problem.

Because by this university's flawed standard? I am obese. Meaning that, had I given the school my thousands of dollars and four years of my life, I would be barred from graduating too. I am a size 14 - 16, and am over the 30 bmi limit.

Methinks this university is going to spend a whole lot in legal fees, and soon!

6:42PM - dear flist *bats eyes shamelessly*

http://astolat.livejournal.com/214429.html

...if you love me would you please take a second and vote here for the NYC metro area (10025 zip code) to get this special Kradison concert? :D

http://eventful.com/ryanrockmytown

I'M JUST SAYING, WE HAVE BEEN ROBBED HERE. ;____;


And then omg go look at what pentapus has made me!! <3333333

ADAM MEETS METHOS (also Edward and Bella hahaha omg)



\o/!!!!

Also in the happy-making department, you should haunt linzeestyle's lj for the ADAM/TOMMY fic that she has promised is coming! *coughs and totally puts her on the spot* and read more of the awesome queenbitchfest stories that have been posted!

You can also read this entry on Dreamwidth ( comments)

8:53PM - FM-PMS & fanfic e-book legal question

current chapter word count: 5406
scenes worked on: Mariko, Seishiro & Makoto
scenes complete? plotwise, yes, but Seishiro & Makoto probably needs a bit of descriptive flesh
character learning about a skeleton in the cupboard: Seishiro
character learning about alternative thoughts on blood: Makoto
character admitting barely the risks he'd taken: Ameru
quote of the day: "You do the spell, have the effect, and get billed by sakanagi."

unrelated F-Y-I: don't expect this chapter any time before Christmas. I'm buried in work and my trusty beta is going on other-side-of-the-planet vacation with the significant other. I wish them a very good trip & even though they're going to be communicative (they say that now) I'm confident there won't be any time to beta (if there turns out to be, they're going to get an earful from me when they get back, because they managed to do their vacation wrong! ;) ).

unrelated side-note / legal question: are there any copyright issues (other than those already attached to fanfic) with making an ebook out of one's fic, as long as that ebook is not DRMed and given for free? Are ebooks for dedicated reading equipment considered the same as web-documents or are they considered like printed books, thus upping the stake towards the original publishers of the fandom source?
If there are any i-net, fan legal experts out there on my friends' lists, I'd be happy to hear your opinion about this. :)

This entry has comments here on Dreamwidth.
Please comment there using OpenID.

2:05PM - #ShameOnYouABC, seriously

http://astolat.livejournal.com/214261.html

wow! Okay, so for anyone who doesn't know yet: Adam was supposed to perform on Good Morning America tomorrow. GMA had freaking Hot Topic stores giving out promotional tickets yesterday. Last night, coming out of his Letterman taping (it's going to be shown on Wednesday night btw), Adam told people there he was doing three songs, was all excited for it.

This morning, GMA cancelled. And not only did they cancel, they apparently cancelled without telling HIM, because after the email notices -- TO RANDOM PEOPLE WHO HAD SIGNED UP FOR THEIR MAILING LIST -- went out, Tommy (the cute bassist who is the other boy in the kissing pics) tweeted that it had NOT been cancelled in response to panicked questions. A few minutes later it was confirmed that yes, it was cancelled.

I just -- there is ZERO QUESTION that ABC knew what Adam was going to do on the AMAs for anyone who saw the broadcast and the breathless, every-commercial-break "omg you will not BELIEVE Adam Lambert's performance!" and "the one everyone will be talking about!" teasers, not to mention the pre-performance videos THEY FILMED AND PUT ONLINE where he talked about sexiness and boys on leashes and rehearsed the performance. They got their highest ratings in 7 years.

But apparently ABC is now "worried" about having him on the show "so early in the day." (Although he's been on GMA before, at the same time while on the Idols Live tour he was jacking off mic stands and doing stripper moves on stage every night. AMAZINGLY, he did not put on a raunchy performance at 7 in the morning.)

Of course, the boy-on-boy crotch action got edited out for the AMAs west coast feed, even though all the sex moves with girls were apparently okay, so maybe they thought better of it afterwards? Maybe he made things a little too gay after he surprise-kissed Tommy? akdsfja;djf;asdfjad /incoherent wrath

TO CALL ABC TO COMPLAIN: 1-818-460-7477, hit 1 on first menu, 2 on second menu, 1 on third menu, then 466 for the GMA mailbox and leave a message.

OKAY, LESS RAGE, MORE HAPPY:

Adam is going to be on the CBS Early Show tomorrow morning instead.

***ETA***
He is going to be performing indoors in the studio, and doing a meet and greet AFTERWARDS in the plaza at 5th avenue and 59th street, and fans are invited to gather.

NYC PEEPS, the Early Show concerts are held outside on the plaza at 5th avenue and 59th street. I have no clue how they will handle the crowd, but there's no physical limit to the space, so presumably it's just first come first serve until they fill up and start sending people away.

But I am going to have to show up just at the last second because I can't be out in the cold that long right now, so I have no idea if I will be able to stay or see a thing. ;____; *cries and hates ABC some more*

Also OMG HIS FREAKING AWESOME ALBUM:

Super-fancy iTunes Deluxe LP with bonus tracks and visualizer and pretty videos and interview or Amazon WHOLE MP3 ALBUM for $0.99: $3 free downloads coupon, album for $3.99 special

EXTRA HAPPY: (I don't know who made this macro but ♥ awesome)



okay. and painted_birdie made SNUGGIES!Kradison, and pentapus has been showing me cute drawings, and now I feel better and am going back to coding but a;lkdjfa;jdfk;ajf;asdjf;saf;adjfk OMGGG >:(

You can also read this entry on Dreamwidth ( comments)

8:48PM - Um, WTF?

HPFandom.net... account suspended... any information to be had?

Per darlinggirl1263 on LJ: The account was suspended for "excessive CPU usage". The mod is working to get things back up and running. We'll just have to wait it out.

ETA: Had a couple of people asking for an older fic - meaning the ones I have not tagged here on IJ yet - so, I figured I'd just link you my LJ tags.

Jesus. I gotta make myself get those old tags done. I mean, it has only been two and one-half years, right? *hates that kind of stuff*

8:41PM - Kitchen Witchin -- Spanish Rice casserole

Tonight's dinner was a triumph of improvisation, ergo I want to record it before I forget the details of what went into the pot.

* 1 lb ground chicken

* 3 smallish cloves of garlic, minced. (For once, I did NOT salt-grind them.)

* One poblano pepper, chopped.

* One small yellow onion, similarly chopped.

* A drizzle of sesame oil. I'd guestimate between a teaspoon and two.

* One 15 oz can of tomatoes. (I used Muir Glen's fire roasted with green chiles, but you should use whatever you fancy.)

* One wee can of sliced black olives, drained of its brine.

* A cup, more or less, of chicken broth (I eyeballed this. Sorry for the inexactitude.)

* One cup of long grain brown rice.

* Black pepper (five grinds,) cumin ( a very light dusting over the top,) and crystalized garlic (a generous dusting over the top,) to taste.

Prep is ridiculously easy. In a very deep frying pan, saute the chicken, garlic, onions and pepper in the sesame oil. Once the chicken is not very pink anymore, add the rice, and saute for as long as it takes you to get your cans open, and your broth measured out. (The extra saute induces the dry rice to take up the liquid easier, which, being brown rice, it really could use the help.)

Dump the tomatoes into a two cup pyrex glass measure, and then add chicken broth to the tippy top. Dump that in, then splash another third cup or so in for good measure. (Consider using that to rinse the dregs out of the tomato can. Cos it's yummy, that's why.) Stir in the olives (which will bring all the boys to the yard with their saltiness,) Bring it to a boil, then down to a simmer, and cover the pan for 25 minutes. I put the dry spices in about fifteen minutes before serving, but really they can go in just about any time.

Overall simmering time was around half an hour to 40 minutes, with three stirrings in, and the lid left off for the last ten minutes.

Try not to be appalled by how much like boxed mix the result will look. Fact is, it tastes worlds beyond better. And what's more? Gluten free.

If you're a lightweight, you can replace the poblano pepper (which ain't that spicy, really,) with something like a Romano, Anaheim, or Cubanelle pepper. If you do it with a bell pepper though, I will scorn you from afar, so it's best you don't tell me that detail. However, as usual, I want to hear the REST of how it comes out if/when you try this in your own kitchens.

Om Nom, my darlings!

4:52PM - ZOMGNew Moon is the best movie EVAR!!!

No, really. The bum says so!



(Thanks and a million more thanks to debitha for posting this. I lolled so hard I might have sporfled a little. Srsly.)

1:42PM - OMG GET THE ALBUM FOR $1 NO NOT KIDDING

http://astolat.livejournal.com/213903.html

* Amazon is giving away $3 in MP3 downloads credit

* Amazon is doing a one-week-only promo sale of the MP3 download album for $3.99

SO FOR $0.99 YOU CAN GET THE ENTIRE ALBUM OKAY (eta: though alas, this only works if you are in the US, sigh)


LOOK YOU WANT TO HELP THIS CRAZY-ASS BOY WITH HIS LISA FRANK ALBUM COVER AND HIS NOT-STAGE-GAY AND HIS GLITTER SUIT DEBUT AT THE TOP OF THE BILLBOARD CHARTS and make me club vivid vids to half his songs *kof* DON'T YOU?





(go go go)


IN OTHER AWESOME NEWS, queenbitchfest (the Bowie-song-inspired Adam fest) has completed and the posting of stories has begun with A GLORIOUS KRADAM VAMPIRE AU/True Blood crossover, We Are Not Your Friends (We're Here To Eat You), go read! And watch the comm for the rest!


AAAAAND, to cap it all off, the AO3 has been updated with a pile of bugfixes! NEXT STOP YULETIDE OMG *runs around in circles of terror and joy*</user>

eta: ps for more pretty see supacat's fabulous AMAs picspam, and also Adam is going to be on Letterman tonight! \o/

You can also read this entry on Dreamwidth ( comments)