simply_blah

I've been having a good long think about careers this weekend and although I will become a writer one day, it doesn't pay well and I want a more immediate option, and I'm very interested in the idea of social care. But possibly more along the lines of women's shelters and female crisis centres rather than the disabled and elderly like my Aunt and cousin or homeless/addiction problems like Dad.

I can see Dad being an idiot where these things are concerned: a few months ago when I mentioned I might like to apply as a volunteer at the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre next year I was barraged with questions about my past which was.......annoying, to say the least, because he unintentionally made it about me being a victim. I don't see how it's a bigger issue than his coming from an underprivileged background with drug problems in relation to the kind of work he does. In fact, he found that his clients related better to him (although it's unprofessional to disclose personal details, when he mentions the people he knows and where he grew up, people feel a lot more at ease). How someone who has excelled on numerous rape counselling courses manages to occasionally come off as a douche, I do not know.

I think it might even help if I do the Creative Writing MSc -I know that clients at Dad's work were encouraged to pursue creative outlets. The only problem I can see is that I might need more qualifications or lots of experience and that when we move to Norway, I'll need a very good grasp of Norwegian but maybe I can do voluntary work while I improve my language skills. I think I might book an appointment with the career service and have a tactful conversation with my Dad. If not Dad, maybe my big cousin Louise.

I honestly think this is something I could both handle and would love to do.

For those that are interested, fandom_stocking has opened for sign-ups.

As of this moment, the Yuletide fanfic has hit 2268 words. I only need to work on a couple small bits in the middle, and a bit at the end, and I’m finished.

And now, a meme, taken from lizbee:

Name three fics you think I will never, ever, ever write. In return (and if inspired), I will attempt to write a snippet of one of them.

I just started writing earlier, and in just a couple hours I've hit 1061 words. Not anywhere close to finished right at this second, but I know how the entire story should go. I hit the 1000 word minimum relatively quickly, at least.

ETA: Correction: 5 minutes later, it's hit 1257 words.

Six Things To Be Thankful For In Science Fiction.

From Cracked: 5 Battlefield Screw-Ups That Were Hilarious (Until People Died).

Christopher Eccleston and Naoko Mori will be starring in a movie where Eccleston is John Lennon, and Mori is Yoko Ono.

For those that have me friended, I’ll be closing the title poll (which is friends locked) Sunday. A huge thank you to everyone that’s given their input and voted so far. I’m in the middle of writing the fanfic right now, and as of this moment it’s almost 1000 words, which is great.

And what a comedy of errors it was.

So I replace my aging GeForce 8800GT with a GeForce GTS285. Nice step up. Card arrives, I go to install it, and my case is _too small for the card_. So off I go to Newegg to get a new case.

New case arrives and I find out that the power supply is missing the 2x4-pin CPU power to go with the 2x12 Rest-Of-The-Card power.

Cue much swearing.

So I strip everything back out, swipe my old power supply from my old case (known-good), install that in the new case, plug everything back up, and VOILA!

Here I am.

All better now.

Man, that sucked. A lot.

I know how old I am, but I just can't accept it. I don't LOOK that old, I don't FEEL that old.. and I certainly don't want to date the men who think we should be dating based on our age brackets. I'd feel more comfortable dating someone under 28 than over 40. I mean, 40? Really? How the hell did THAT happen? I will either be single forever, or a cougar, apparently.

Besides.. it's not polite to ask a woman her age.

18 Foreign Language Films You Really Need To See. I need to watch Let The Right One In someday, going by what I’ve heard of it.

For those interested, you can watch an interview with Bernard Cribbins here. They tried to get him to reveal spoilers for the next two episodes, but he refused, saying they couldn’t even torture it out of him.

Top 14 Fake Movies From Real Movies.

There’s a 6 minute preview of the third season of Chuck here. I’ve actually never watched the series. I think I’ll eventually download and watch it before the next Yuletide rolls around. It's going on the long list of shows I need to try.

And now, a meme, taken from a lot of people on my friends list.

( Cut, just in case this post is too long for my friends list. )

For free.

Because no one should have to pay to see a movie this bad.

http://10starmovies.com/Watch-Movies-Online/2012_2009/

Just recently stumbled across something Tenth Doctor related that I had managed to miss the first time around. Music of the Spheres. Going by the fact it aired in July of 2008, I would have been recovering from the bleeding ulcer, and unable to download it—with the swollen arm at the time, I was also unable to really scroll through my friends list that well for a while. Unfortunately, I couldn't find footage of the Graske running through the audience--Wikipedia mentioned that bit.

Tasty Foods That Would Rather Eat You For Dinner.

Top 10 Most Ridiculous Soap Operas of All Time. Heroes, the X-Men, and Angel get mentioned. With Angel, it’s mostly for Cordelia’s character arc. In the comments, people point out Doctor Who and Dark Shadows.

Bernard Cribbins won a BAFTA award.

Wired’s Top 10 Doctor Who Villains.

On Sunday, I’m going back to the theater where I watched the silent version (the one with John Barrymore) of Jekyll and Hyde—because they’re showing Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I haven’t seen it since someone brought it to the library for people (who were exempt from exams and didn’t have anywhere else to go) to watch, when I was in 9th grade.

I think there might be less than 40 people at work today, on the whole campus. 25 percent of those would be Information Technology folks - the few, the proud, the 'working when everyone else is out of town'.

This is just so amazingly awesome.

The Holiday Wish List Meme is going around, so I thought I would do it again this year. I’ll also cross-post it to wish_list and holiday_wishes in a little while. Beneath the cut, I’ve posted the instructions for the wish list meme, as well as the list.

( Click here for the Holiday Wish List Meme. I could only think of nine things. )

A Doctor Who Friending meme is located here. And there’s a Dark Shadows friending meme here.

In the Merlin fandom, merlin_thematic is doing an AU Pudsey Camelot Meme, based on the Children in Need Special. The fanfics found in the comments are hysterical.

You can watch some new promos for Chuck here.

Untold Adventures: The History of Tie-In Novels. They mention the ones for Buffy, Xena, Star Trek, Angel, Doctor Who, and quite a few others—but I see they didn’t mention Highlander.

The Top 10 Most Clichéd Character Types in Sci-Fi.

And for the Yuletide fanfic, I’ve finished an outline, and written a lot of the story in there. I’m rewatching the series the story is for one last time, just to make sure I’ve managed to get everyone's voices right. And, somehow, a random Buffy reference popped in. It will probably be cut later, but it’s there for now. I considered doing a poll to help me decide which title works best out of the ones I’ve come up with, before realizing that it would give away what I was writing for.

I need to remember to pack tonight. I'll probably post something tomorrow, but Thursday and Friday I will be incommunicado. Actually, I'll be in-Southern-West-Virginia, but it's roughly the same thing.

Yesterday was going so well. I finished the novel for class, was in and out of work quickly, went shopping and got gloves and scarf for Alex, new jeans for me at £9 (!!!) and some Moomin pants. I got home, had chicken soup ready and uploaded jewellery to my shop. All in all, satisfying if not amazing.

...then Alex came home in tears because some Swedish cunt had been a bastard to him over the phone and on the way home, chavs who were playing with fireworks pretended to throw one at his face. So it was cuddles, to bed, chippy for dinner and watching QI. Which I don't mind but the whole reason he is here stuck in a job he doesn't like is because of me and I am torn between all the nice things we just bought for this flat and moving back there ASAP. In the end, I don't need a Creative Writing MSc, I can become a writer without one, and there are probably better employment opportunities for me in Norway than Scotland.

just askhafshfashiasfihasfih bastardsbastardsbastards >:E >:E >:E

So remember how I mentioned that Ember SPAZZED when she looked at me through the railing by the stairs when I paused? Like there were BARS, BARS, AND THE HUMAN MUMMY IS BEHIND THEM AND AND AND NOOOOO!?

Well, with my mother she plays a form of peek-a-boo, really, looking around the edge of the railing. So she can realize it's not REALLY preventing her from getting to someone.

So twice today I tried, briefly, to see if she could figure it out with me.

And she instantly went into incoherent panic. The first time she tried desperately to reach through to me via the gaps in the railing, and the second just--instant, infant-like crying.

I'm not there to TORTURE her, so I instantly went around and up the last few stairs and scooped her up. And we cuddle more, now. Quite a bit. With her glued to my side.

But oh, boy. It worries me she can figure it out with others but goes into so much panic with me she can't think. And that was it, literally: she went into a panic attack at the idea she could not get to me. That there were bars between us she couldn't get through. She couldn't think enough to realize she can jump over them or go around them--she just was terrified.

And that makes me scared for her.

RiffTrax Live returns! With special guest, Weird Al Yankovic! Holy crap! And it's going to be showing in a theater in Morgantown again! Woo!

I am all over that.

I just made the most excellent roast chicken dinner with roasted potatoes and asparagus spears. There is apple pie for pudding when we're feeling less full. The fire is on in the livingroom-kitchen and the flat feels toasty from the oven, too. I've read half of the book for Tuesday, will read more later. This week's washing has been done. And I'm about to get cracking on research for my dissertation and concoct a plan.

I love days like this. Good food, good company and no stress. It doesn't take much to please me, really.