Anyone interested in reading a DVD commentary for one of my fics?  If so, which one?

(Yes, I'm still not getting anywhere with actually writing something new, but I thought the essentially masturbatory exercise of writing about something I wrote might help somehow.  Maybe.)   

How is everyone?  I haven't written anything lately (you may have noticed), but am otherwise OK.  Maybe I should do some sort of prompts meme to kick my writing organ into gear, but I am too inert to even come up with one.

In other news, I'm nearly done with T_eyla's Dr. Who scarf...I actually already have reached the goal of 15 feet; now I'm just using up the yarn that's left.  Then I have to put on the tassels.  Should be no problem at all getting that done before T_eyla's US adventure in March/April.

I finally gave in and bought a carpet cleaner.  It doesn't do nearly as good a job as the ones you rent at the grocery store--using it as directed, it didn't even budge the stain from where my dog was sick on the carpet.  I did finally get most of it up by dumping hot water and cleaning solution straight into the stain and letting it sit for a while, then going over it with the machine.  I'm kind of disappointed with it.  On the other hand, that stain has been there for weeks (and it isn't so much a stain as a "big spot of dog sick that I wiped at ineffectually with paper towels, then covered with more paper towels and tried to forget about).  Now that I own the machine and don't have to make a special trip to the store to rent it (and another one to return it), maybe now I'll clean up future messes the same day they happen, which would be better in all sorts of ways. 

I expect to be able to pay for the carpet machine (put it on the credit card, natch) by selling stuff I got at the Salvation Army.  That store has not put out a single new book  in months, and now suddenly this week they brought out these huge plastic tubs with books just thrown in there willy-nilly, and they're doing hardcovers 5 for a dollar and paperbacks 10 for a dollar.  (The usual prices are 79 cents paperback and $1.49 hardcover, half that on Wednesdays.)  I got loads of stuff for my Amazon store, plus a complete set of the Fruits Basket manga up to volume 17, and a bunch of random yaoi manga.  I'm going to try E-baying those--the individual books aren't going for much on Amazon, but I think if I sell the Fruits Basket ones all together and the all yaoi as a mixed lot, I should get something for them.  Searching closed listings I found that somebody just got almost $100 for Fruits Basket 1-15 on ebay, and my lot has two more books in it!  No idea what the yaoi stuff will fetch, but probably something--it's the beginnings of several different series, which makes sense as something people would want. 

I made a sock puppet called Buttons the Dragon.  He's made out of a green sock and is covered in buttons.  I would like to share a picture, but he's at my sister's house.  He's pretty great. 

The first round of help_haiti auctions closed, and so far the mods have recorded $7,600 worth of donations--and they've only gotten through two categories, audio and food!  That means they haven't even added up the fic and art/graphics posts (which I think have to be the biggest categories), or the miscellaneous stuff (where people offered everything from handicrafts to fannish books or DVDs dug out of the backs of their closets, to, in one case, brand-new designer shoes).  is that awesome, or is that awesome?

My personal auctions raised a total of $45--$15 for essay tutoring and $30 for the Year of Mail, which went to a due South person--I don't know her personally, yet, but I'm looking forward to it!

I recently got a PM from tal_valante, who says that she is a fan of my House fic and invites me to submit original fiction to her publishing house for paid publication.  Her company, "Guiltless Pleasure Publishing" is aimed at publishing erotica for women (including slash and femmeslash).  

While this invitation is extremely flattering, I would urge anyone else who has received one of these not to get too excited yet.  A little investigation shows that tal_valante has never commented on anything I've written, and indeed only created her LJ this week.  Her company hasn't actually published anything yet--she says the first book "or three" is scheduled to come out in March.  Elsewhere on the site, she posits a 4-month turnaround time from manuscript acceptance to release, which in turn suggests that she isn't very far along with the books she intends to release in March.

To me, it isn't clear that this publishing house is anything more than a web site and a dream at this point.  ( Read more... )

Short version: if you hear from her, proceed with caution and don't quit your day job!  Please feel free to share any experiences you may have had  or other information you've been able to ferret out in the comments. 

Here are the promised pictures of the stuff I made for Christmas this year:

( Read more... )

I've made two offers at help_haiti , which, if you've been living under a rock, is a community set up to do a sort of "time, talent, and treasure" auction to, well, help Haiti!  If you have any money to spare, I strongly recommend taking a look at the various offerings--there's something for everyone! 

My two offers are for an hour of essay tutoring and for a "year of mail" where I'll send you cool stuff at least once a month for a year.  My posts are here.  The "year of mail" is something I saw other people offering, and it sounds like a lot of fun! 

So last night the light in my bathroom burnt out.  No problem--I replaced the bulb and all was well.  Until This morning, when I flipped the switch and--no light.  Further investigation proved that the hall light (right next to the bathroom) and the electrical outlet in the hallway were also not working. 

I trotted down into the basement and looked at the breaker box--all of the breakers were in the "on" position.  For good measure, I flipped the relevant one back and forth.  No help.

Here is my question: are there any other steps I should take to troubleshoot this problem before calling an electrician?  I'm guessing probably not, but I figured it doesn't hurt to ask around in case there is some other boneheaded thing I should check or do before I start paying $OhMyGod an hour.  

My auto mechanic sent me a free "Classic Cars" calendar, which it turns out I won't be using because my sister got me the House calendar for Christmas.  The picture for September happens to be a 1972 Buick Riviera--blue, unfortunately, not green, and Ray Vecchio's were 1971's.  But if anyone wants it, I'd be happy to pop it in the mail.  If more than one person wants it (which seems unlikely), I'll put the names in a hat and pick a winner. 

Edit:  If nobody on the f'list wants it, do you think it's worth posting this on the ds_noticeboard?  I hate to throw it away if it might find a good home, but the due South connection is tenuous at best.

OK, so I'm watching the second part of The End of Time, and( Spoiler cut )

Hi, guys!  **jumps up and down, waving**

I do have some pictures of my Christmas Crafts, but I don't seem to have the cable to connect the camera to the computer--I think I must have left it at my house.  I'll be back there quite soon (may even be there by the time you are reading this!) so I will post pictures as soon as it turns up.

As you have seen, I finished the Robot Rodney story.  No idea what project I will tackle next. 

I got some lovely Christmas and birthday presents--among them, a complete set of Farscape DVDs.  I hope I like it!  I've been hearing for a while now how great it is, and the new DVDs just came out.  Other notable presents are a diamond-and-ruby ring from my Great Aunt (she is quite wealthy, and has decided to do her birthday gift shopping in her jewelry box this year)--it's 26 tiny diamonds arranged around a square ruby.  (NOTE TO BURGLARS: it's in the safe deposit box.  Don't bother breaking in my house--I have nothing else valuable.)  I also got a Tracfone with the special card that makes it last all year, and it's the camera phone one.  If I remember to keep it charged and carry it, you may be seeing photos of my various adventures! 

What else...quite a few books, including all of Elizabeth Bear's Promethean Age series--quite good; I recommend them.  It looks like it's two duologies--I accidentally read the second one first, but it seems to be working out OK--I'm not confused.  Rexluscus, you should read them!  Kit Marlowe and Shakespeare are the main characters, but your boy Spenser does have a cameo.)  I also got, and have already read, Your Inner Fish and Mao's Last Dancer.  Both good.  My father and my sister actually both got me the Elizabeth Bear books, so one set got sent back, and I have the new Terry Pratchett coming in exchange.  I'm quite looking forward to that one. 

I also got some bookstore and craft store cards, and some money, and two additions to the giraffe herd: one is a money box, and one came all the way from South Africa with my aunt, who is a traveling nurse.  Also two teapots, one an antique and one from Vietnam via Ten Thousand Villages, and two antique teacups. 

I have not yet seen the last two Dr. Who specials--the internet here at my dad's is slow.  But (as previously mentioned) I'll be home soon, and will (as usual) appreciate help with finding them.  If anyone has a megaupload (or similar) link, that would be super-fabulous--torrents take forever on my connection.  Email or ninja-deleted comments are cool if you wish to be discreet.  Edit:  I don't need help with this after all--turns out BBCA is showing these Sat. evening, so I'll just watch them on the actual TV. 

While we're on the subject, I also want to watch Traders, a series David Hewlett did before Stargate Atlantis--I've been reading some crossover fics, and now I'm curious about it.  It doesn't seem to be available on DVD.   I'm also finally watching The Sentinel--Nexflix has the first season, and only the first season.  (The others, google tells me, are not out on DVD at all.)  If anyone has ideas on how to get either of these shows, please let me know!  (I'd be happy to pay for postage/blank media---both are old enough it seems likely there may be VHS copies kicking around somewhere.  Tips on communities or other places to ask about these also gratefully received--I haven't really started looking for them yet.)  OTOH, with 88 episodes of Farscape to watch, I should be OK for a while. 

I think that's all my news.  Hope everyone is doing OK! 

See part I for notes, warnings, etc.

( Click! )

On to part V

Part 5, including epilogue. See part I for notes, etc.

( Click! )

See part I for notes, warnings, etc.

( Click! )

On to part IV

Part II. See part I for warnings, rating, etc.

( Read it! )

On to part III!

Title: I, Rodney

Rating: I'd guess PG-13 for some swearing, violence.

Spoilers: Specific for season 1, general for McKay and Mrs. Miller (if you know who Mrs. Miller is, you're golden).

Summary: A season-1 AU where Rodney is a robot. Gen.

A/N: If you have been reading along with my drafts, you won't find any dramatic changes; the epilogue has been added to part 5.
A/N 2: Thanks to Wihluta for beta and un-sticking help, and to my Regular Readers for cheerleading the draft.

( Read it! )

On to part II!

Here's the almost-end to the Robot Rodney story. I'm anticipating an epilogue, then I'll be posting a cleaned-up version and advertising on the comms. Whee!

Speaking of, thanks to Wih for un-sticking me and for providing Madison's Question.

( Yes, Kepler Does Appear in This Chapter! )

Biggest news item:  With an assist from Wih, have gotten un-stuck on the Rodney story.  I have two more little bits to write, but expect to have the last chapter to post Saturday or Sunday.  (Not sure yet if it's just one chapter left or one chapter + epilogue.  If the latter, the epilogue will probably be another few days in coming.)

Part of the reason progress on the story is slow is that I'm neck-deep in Christmas projects.  I am nearly done knitting knittens for my knieces and knephews (well, my two actual nieces, and my cousin's kids)--the last one is halfway done, and then I need to sew faces on all of them.  The train I painted for Elder Niece is finished, as of today.  The chair I'm painting for Younger Niece is half done; I also have to sew a cushion for it, which I haven't even started yet.  I have 6 out of 13 planned batches of cookies done--in addition to those, I also have some mint candy and two batches of dog biscuits to make.  I'm pretty much on schedule to get everything done in time, but it's enough to keep me busy.  If anyone's interested, I'll post pics of the train, chair, and critters when I am finished with it all. 

Finally, I am looking forward to being buried under the terrific snowstorm that's hitting my portion of the northeast-ish US.  I had thought, until a little earlier today, that I was going to have to drive in it, to do some dog visits, but they got canceled--the owner doesn't want to travel in this weather either--so now I am free to enjoy the snow without having to brave the roads.  I expect I'll take the dogs out for a nice romp in it.  

I've seen this meme on a few journals, and I thought I'd give it a whirl:

Give me the title of a story I've never written, and feedback telling me what you liked best about it, and I will tell you any of: the first sentence, the last sentence, the thing that made me want to write it, the biggest problem I had while writing it, why it almost never got posted, the scene that hit the cutting room floor but that I wish I'd been able to salvage, or something else that I want readers to know.



In unrelated news, the ending of he Robot Rodney story is in the works...sort of. I am a bit stuck, and have Sought Help from Wih, who has Helped in the past with similar issues. If you would like to Help Help, let me know and I will email you the bits that I have. At the mo' I'm concentrating on doing extra hours at work and getting some Christmas Knitting done, but I hope to wrap up the story sometime in the coming week.

Guys, I need your help! Apparently I have not given my dad enough ideas for my Christmas presents. (Really, he doesn't need so much ideas as specific instructions about what to get, what store it's in, and how to find it once he gets there.) What should I ask for? I'm stumped! What do you have that you really like?

So far I've asked for books, more books, and a Tracfone. I'm not sure if he figured anything else out on his own or not. I usually get at least one teapot, but he probably did manage to think of that on his own. I could use more ideas of books to ask for, but that has to be in the next couple of days so he can order online.

Hi! I didn't die! I have run out of steam on this a little, but I do want to finish it.

( Touch Rodney's Stump )