The Mezzanine

ficathon

2013-05-15T00:40:06Z

For those who would like to remix things...

buffy_remix is now taking sign-ups for Buffyverse remix fics.

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narrows eyes

2013-05-14T04:54:46Z

Saw the World War Z trailer today. (Also saw Iron Man 3 (the movie not the trailer), which totally rocked!)

Was expecting to be annoyed by action scenes, explosions, and Brad Pitt being his movie-star-ish self.

In the end, wasn't annoyed by any of those, because I was too busy restraining myself from yelling angrily about the FAST ZOMBIES.

The zombies were running. RUNNING. In WORLD WAR Z. Running. It was like it was an action movie or something. An action movie with FRELLING FAST ZOMBIES.

Do they not understand the point of the book at all?

*weeps for humanity*

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indecision

2013-05-10T23:22:35Z

Crafter's Paralysis: the inability to start a new project because, by choosing one to do, you'll be simultaneously not choosing all the others, and they're all so nice!

Just finished my blanket. Am now trying to choose between crocheting three different headwear things, crocheting slippers, sewing a cloak, sewing a quilt cover, or finishing my cross-stitch...

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complaining cat

2013-05-06T11:13:02Z

Elf is extremely hungry - and complaining bitterly at me - because he hasn't eaten anything since 10am.

I know he hasn't eaten since 10am, because that's when I filled up his bowl. And he hasn't touched it since.

Which means, basically, that he's meowing at full volume and trying desperately to get me to feed him bikkies, while standing in front of a bowl that is ABSOLUTELY FULL of the very bikkies he's asking for.

(Elf would, no doubt, maintain that they are, in fact, totally different from the bikkies he's asking for, because the bikkies in his bowl are old, used bikkies. But I'm ignoring him and his insane feline logic.)

He's actually been fairly upset with me all week. First Prince moved out, then his secondary patter-and-feeder (dr_carrot) moved out, and now, horror of horrors, he doesn't have a second bowl of (Prince's) bikkies to snack off, so he's feeling starved and ill-treated.

I remain hard-hearted. I will calmly ignore my cat's piteous meows, and read the internet instead.

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OOH SHINY

2013-05-02T11:13:27Z

Okay, you guys were right. Lost Girl is fabulous.

I'm three episodes in, and I'm already squeeing every few minutes, and also shipping Bo and the doctor.

Currently I'm watching Kenzi be tortured by having to pretend she likes pink. Heh.

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half a jar down the drain...

2013-04-26T04:39:29Z

A fly just suicided in my honey jar.

I missed the moment of impact, but it's quite clear what happened. While my back was turned, focusing on my pikelets, a fly flew in, found the open, inviting honey jar, thought "Score!", dived in with great enthusiasm, and then discovered its mistake.

By the time I turned around, pikelet in hand, it was wriggling its little legs frantically, no doubt shrieking "Help! Delicious sticky death! HELP!!!" in whatever language flies speak.

I was powerless to help it. And I would have felt bad for it – but mostly, I was just annoyed about it ruining my honey.

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Aarrr. And yohoho. And such.

2013-04-25T21:22:28Z

Apparently the US ambassador is complaining about Aussies pirating Game of Thrones.

*rolls eyes*

For the benefit of His Ambassadorship and other uninformed people - here is what I would have to do to watch Game of Thrones:
- Buy a subscription to Foxtel to watch payTV! Woo! $70 a month to watch one show! That's... what? $16 an episode? Score!
- Watch them on Netflix or Hulu! Awesome! ...for all of five seconds, until I remember that I live in Australia and *headsmack* oh yeah, we can't use those.
- Wait for the dvd. Generally, dvds come out about two years after a season of tv airs in America - if things go well. So, only a couple of years to avoid spoilers and stay off the internet. That's not hard, right?
- Piracy.

In other words, ambassador? Give me an easy way to pay, and I will. Otherwise - stuff off. I'm trying to watch telly.

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state of the engagement

2013-04-23T22:57:37Z

House Hunting

So far, we've put in offers for two houses. Didn't get the first; waiting to see if we got the second.

Buying houses is this weird kind of psychological torture in which you guess random numbers until you hopefully get one right. It is like no other buying experience on Earth: it would be so much more convenient if houses came with price tags attached, or at least with the ability to bargain with the seller. I know how that works; but this? Not a clue.

The house we're currently after is an absolute wreck, but a salvageable one. It would require an awful lot of immensely difficult work – and I would so enjoy watching it turn into something better. (Also one of the reasons I like editing, so...)

Parties and So Forth

Had an engagement party last weekend, at my parents' house. We packed out the house, with heaps of people ...who I mostly remembered the names of! Go me!

My sisters organised for every person at the party to have their photo taken holding a sign or a funny prop. I would really recommmend something like this for anyone having a similar party; it was so much fun getting to see what everyone did, and now we have a guest book full of photos.

I don't think I have to send thank-yous about people giving us cards – which is good, because we have the most enormous stack of cards, matched only by the enormous number of comments on our facebook pages.

Despite saying 'no gifts', we also have a table stacked high with presents from everyone who decided to give us something anyway. Rather fun, looking at all the pretty things and figuring out how we'll use them...

Still so much to organise – but we'll get there.

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do your research, writers!

2013-04-20T08:33:05Z

NCIS is still annoying me with its abuse of Latin...

Rewatching season 6, and once again gritted my teeth at the following exchange:

Abby: "Gibbs! Primitus Victor*? It's Latin. It means 'first victim'."
Gibbs: "Yeah. I know, Abbs."

* from a message the killer left them

GRRRR.

No. No it does not mean that. It does not mean anything of the sort.

'Primitus victor' is indeed Latin. And it means 'first winner'. 'First victim' would be 'primitus victima'.

I understand why they did it. They thought "victor" sounded cooler, and didn't think anyone would notice. But that's no excuse for doing it wrong.

*is petty and pedantic*

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On the Other Foot, or Hand, Whatever - fic

2013-04-17T17:21:20Z

I wrote slash! Me! Weird, huh?

Title: On the Other Foot, or Hand, Whatever
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 1195
Pairing: Spike/Angel
Warnings: Dub-con

Summary: Angel's ready to forget the past. Spike's got other plans.

( getting his attention )

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gauging interest in a remix ficathon

2013-04-15T20:09:27Z

Is anyone interested in a Buffyverse remix ficathon?

Since the Remix doesn't appear to be happening this year, I'm missing my remix-ness. That one was huge, though, so I can see why no-one wants to take it over.

So – if we held a smaller remix, of Buffyverse fics, would anyone come?

Show of hands?

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(keeping my signature, too)

2013-04-13T21:33:35Z

I'm managing to confuse the world with name-change stuff.

(For the purposes of this post, my last name will be Smith, and the fiance's last name will be Jones.)

Most people seem to think that there are two options. Either I can be stuffy and traditional and change my name to "Mrs Jones", or I can be radical and feminist and keep my name as "Ms Smith".

Occasionally, someone allows for a third option, where I am hip and modern and take the name "Mrs Smith-Jones".

I am... doing none of those. Which seems to be confusing everyone.

My plan is to change my last name from Smith to Jones. And to change my title – from Miss to Ms.

The pro-"Ms Smith" people are worried that I'm subsuming my identity into the fiance's. The pro-"Mrs Jones" people are baffled that I don't want to be a Mrs. A smaller selection of both groups are still stuck back on my current title – weirded out by the fact that I'm a thirty-year-old professional and still going by Miss instead of Ms*.

* Except on those forms which don't give me an option, but simply expect me to tick "Mr", "Mrs", or "Ms", even though my title is none of the above.

All in all, I'm apparently confusing.

I've seen a lot of internet discussions about name change recently, and in almost every discussion at least one person will say "Well, I decided not to change my last name, because I don't want to be a Mrs." No-one ever seems to point out that it doesn't have to be all or nothing.

So, why am I doing it the way I am? No grand philosophical reasons; it's just that I thought through all the possible permutations, and "Ms Jones" was the one that sounded most like me.

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fairytale variations

2013-04-13T11:57:20Z

Discovered this evening that, despite having grown up in the same house, my sisters and I have heard different versions of The Princess and the Pea – and had no idea that the other version existed.

In my sisters' version, the queen tests the girl to find out if she's princess material, by placing a pea underneath umpteen mattresses and finding out if she can detect the pea through the mattresses or not.
And the girl, who is princess material, does indeed detect the pea. And marries the prince! Hurrah!

In my version, the queen still tests the girl. But the girl can't feel the pea under the thousands of mattresses, because, let's face it, that's pretty much impossible.
But the servants (or animals, or the prince's sneaky little sister, depending on the version) like the girl. They think she's nice! So they sneak in and tell her all about the queen's plan – and in the morning, the girl makes sure to complain about how badly she slept, thus proving with her awesome pea-detection skills that she's princess material. (Although, actually, she's just princess material because she's so darn nice.)

My sisters had never heard of a version where the girl got help with detecting the pea. And I, although having heard versions with a whole bunch of different groups of people helping the girl, had never heard of a version where she didn't get help at all.

Weird, huh?

So – show of hands? Who's heard of which version? And has anyone heard of both?

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the downside of loving shows

2013-04-12T23:29:36Z

Rewatching Battlestar Galactica, and doing lots of squeeing.

Or at least I WAS doing lots of squeeing, until the Battlestar Pegasus showed up. Now I'm trying to restrain myself from throwing heavy objects at the television.

...at least I'm invested?

I really hate these episodes, because they're pretty essential for plot purposes, and yet watching them is horrible in every way, what with snooty Pegasus guys, Cylon rape, and Cain being downright EVIL. It's painful.

BRB, searching for kitten gifs so I can maintain my inner happy...

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the big post of engagement and such-like things

2013-04-08T21:13:43Z

So... you might have noticed, from my previous post, that I'm engaged. :)

Yay. :)

Because of the levels of secrecy that have been in place for the last couple of months, I haven't been able to make many posts about my life and all its engagementiness. So... here is one big bumper post in which I shall talk about many things.

( the juicy details )

( the big day )

( the vendor rant )

( the dress begins )

( the house hunt )

....that's all for now. :)

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the tags they are a'changin

2013-04-06T19:07:03Z

So, um...

*coughs*

*glances at tags*

*coughs again*

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too many things, too little time...

2013-03-31T22:29:41Z

Haven't really posted much lately. Life has kinda been getting in the way.

So. General update*:

- I am looking for work, and also freelancing.
- Freelancing costs a LOT. All my clients keep saying "We want to pay you $500! But first you need to spend $300 on an essential piece of software, okay?"
- I have been watching much tv, including Leverage, My Little Pony, Once Upon A Time, Lizzie Bennet Diaries, and Zombieland. They all rock.
- The boyfriend is back in Australia, which is extremely awesome.
- Although I am terribly religious, and not at all concerned with such trivialities as shiny and delicious presents, I must report a total of 14 Easter eggs, 1 Ferrero Rocher, and 5 bunnies. SO MUCH CHOCOLATE. AND ALL FOR ME.
- Autumn has finally started taking over from our ridiculously long summer. About time! Unfortunately, it's been so long that I've completely forgotten how to dress for cold weather. I keep on putting on pretty outfits and then going "But I can't wear a jumper! It won't match!" and nearly freezing to death.
- I was sick for a couple of weeks, and so have spent the last 10 days off dairy. I miss my cereal - with an intense, burning passion that I'd never realised flattened bits of corn could inspire in me.
- Life is busy. But good.

* HIMYM fans will understand why I felt it necessary to smartly salute and murmur "General Update!" in the middle of writing this blog post.

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Pistols At Noon - fic

2013-03-31T21:32:47Z

I'm not much of a fan of WIPs. But part one of this story has been sitting on my computer for a couple of years now, and I have little hope of part two ever appearing. And, frankly, I rather like part one. So, I thought I'd post it anyway, and let it sit here for an eternity of WIP-ing.

This is an RPF of the Buffy writers, set in the middle of season 6. Each (theoretical) part from the perspective of a different writer.

(Because, really – season 6? Two shows, split by the networks! Rivalry! Forbidden Willow/Wes romance! The distractions of Firefly! The ridiculousness of the Trio and their real-life counterparts! Passion! Heartbreak! It's just glorious!)

Anyway...

( writer's block )

Tune in next time for inter-show spy rings, sabotaged vending machines, Joss Whedon singing country-and-western, Marti Noxon tearing her hair out, and more in the campaign for high heels!

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dances

2013-03-28T05:35:54Z

The boyfriend is back!!!! YAY!!!!

(He's also horribly jetlagged, but I'm focusing on the good bit.)

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clothing formulae

2013-03-19T03:55:12Z

I am currently waiting for Nathan to wake up from a very long nap, and slightly bored. So I thought I'd take a moment to tell you all my theory of women's clothing. (And possibly men's clothing, but I'm less sure about that.)

Briefly, most clothing will emphasise three different parts of the body:
- the bust or shoulders
- the waist or hips
- the bottom or legs
It's very rare to find clothing that, for instance, emphasises both the waist and the hips. You have to pick which one you want to go with.

So, you figure out which of each pair you should emphasise, and then always pick clothes accordingly. For me, it's:
- shoulders; generally v-necks, halter tops, or other things which create diagonal lines
- waist; stuff which comes in very sharply at my waistline
- bottom; flared jeans, bustle skirts, or fishtails

And that's how it works.

Questions? Comments?

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the underdog of movies

2013-03-18T00:15:32Z

Deep Impact really did get screwed over.

Not only did it have to deal with the reaction it was always going to get ("Typical disaster movie. Eh."), but being released at the same time as Armageddon gave it an extra reaction to contend with ("I've just seen Bruce Willis do this. Why bother seeing the Tea Leoni version?"). So hardly anyone actually saw it.

Which is a pity, because it's kind of incredible.

And while it might technically be a disaster movie - given the whole comet-wiping-out-all-life-on-earth thing - it's certainly not a traditional one. In traditional disaster movies, the hero runs around dealing with the disaster and its consequences in a very heroic and manly fashion. In Deep Impact, the disaster only hits in the last few minutes of the movie - and most of the main characters aren't remotely concerned with trying to stop it.

Instead, the point of the movie is that the comet has been announced, and the main characters are concerned with:
- surviving the comet's impact
- dying with dignity
- coping with military rule
- presenting a brave face to the country, in hopeless circumstances
- blowing up the comet before it hits Earth (okay - a few of the main characters are doing disaster-movie stuff)

It's basically a study of humanity and what we would actually do in this kind of situation. And it makes me cry every time I watch it.

Pity that no-one else ever saw it...

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a post of photos

2013-03-10T05:15:38Z

Here's a few images from the last few months.

A fountain, in Mildura:

There was no actual edge; you could walk straight through the thing if you didn't mind getting wet. Unfortunately, I hadn't brought a towel, so I abstained.

( 11 more under the cut )

It's been a busy few months...

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headdesk

2013-03-03T08:13:14Z

In my quest to rewatch Alien, I have now managed to borrow:

- Aliens (because the S on the end was fairly invisible)

- Alien 3 (because the 3 wasn't even attached to the same word - I mean, come on)

- Alien Resurrection (because the movie studio was so ashamed of having made it that they made the packaging say "Alien Resurrection")

One day I'll get the right one...

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posh frocks

2013-03-02T02:42:18Z

There is something very fun about watching people dressing up and feeling pretty.

They look pretty, too - but to a certain extent, the looking isn't the point. The point is that they feel so pretty that they glow with pretty feelings, and end up with "I AM PRETTY!" radiating out of every pore. Which just makes them look even prettier.

And really, while there's something nice about dressing up, watching other people dress up and feel incredibly pretty is just fun.

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dream logistics

2013-02-25T19:21:20Z

Dreamt last night that my home had been invaded by a serial killer. (My dreams usually end up with people trying to kill me in some way.)

But it was okay! Because I'd put all these bolts on the inside of my bedroom door! So the serial killer couldn't get in! Phew!

Anyway, at this point my boyfriend knocked on my door and asked to come in. And I looked up and called "Oh yeah, come in. Just make sure you slide all the bolts back in place behind you, okay?" And he did.

...you see the problem?

I woke up this morning, and thought, "Hang on - how did he get the bolts undone so he could get into the room?" Now I half want to go back to sleep, so I can fix it.

So, yeah: in my dreams last night I was chased by a serial killer, saddled with zombie-nephews, and trying to stop a prison-escapee from getting to Disneyworld. But the bit that really gets to me is the logistics of opening doors.

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