Fandom – Enchilada Sunrise

Stuck already!

Or, How To Be Extra-Specially Rubbish at Blogging, by Lou.

Oh dear.

So, it’s all of day two of this challenge thingy, and already I’m kind of stuck for what to write about. So I’m writing about not being able to decide what to write about, mainly so that I’ll have something posted today at all! Also, in the hope that if I keep typing, my fingers will come up with something that my brain has stalled over. Or something like that.

Actually, I think it worked. Because it’s not so much that I can’t think of anything to blog about, as that I have several things, but can’t decide which to start with. So instead, I’m going to ramble about WordPress plugins. Fascinating, hmm? Specifically, it’s the plugin that autoposts to Plurk that’s giving me trouble – yesterday it did a weird triple post with the temporary page preview address in it instead of the address for the published post. When I had a look on WP.org, I discovered that the plugin hasn’t been updated for ages, so that’s likely the issue there. There are some new ones that should do the trick instead, so I’m going to install one of those instead. Although since those also post to Twitter and FB (which I’m currently using the Jetpack module to do), I think I’ll swap over for those as well. Assuming the new plugin works the way I want it to and all that. /ramble.

In other news, I really want to go to the Nine Worlds con. Really really really really really. That would, of course, involve me Leaving The House and Going To London, and hard stuff like that. Not to mention paying for the ticket and hotel, so. We’ll see. But I wanna!

W is for Who!

Doctor Who, of course – today was the season finale. No spoilers here, because I know it doesn’t air in the US (and Australia, I think) for another couple of weeks, but I will say that I loved it! The solution to the cliffhanger of last week, and the arc that’s been on-going all season was wonderfully twisty and just right. And oh, there were just enough little hints dropped that I really want to be able to see next season as soon as possible now, too. Evil, evil showrunners! It’s six months til the Christmas Special (and if that’s what was mentioned at the very end, then hee!), and about nine months until season 6. Aaaaah! I’ll just have to keep busy until then, won’t I?

Doctor Who finale (Pt1)

(Or, Non-alphabetical Post The Second)

I’ve just watched the first part of this year’s Doctor Who finale, “The Pandorica Opens” (and then Confidential, and then Casualty, but never mind that). Wow, that was awesome. And coooool, just like bow ties are coooool. I really loved the pre-credit sequence, the way it tied in so many of the episodes from this season. And it just all got more epic from there. I have to admit, I’m feeling a little smug because I’d guessed the purpose of the Pandorica, but I hadn’t guessed exactly why, and I loved that twist. I have no idea where it’s going to go from there, but I have a feeling it’s All About Amy. Somehow, however impossible that seems. After all, it doesn’t seem like there’s any way out. It felt more like a full stop of an ending than a comma. Still a cliffhanger, but… well, if this had been the last ever episode of Doctor Who, even though it would have been a tragic one, I’d’ve been OK with that. I do hope next week lives up to that!

L is for Lazy Sunday

I really have done pretty much pants-all today. I should make some kind of effort to at least get ready for doing things tomorrow – put the sheets in the washing machine so they’re ready to go, or something. We didn’t have dinner over at Mum’s today as we usually do on a Sunday, because we’ve met up twice this week already (and are therefore sick of one another ;-) ). I think the only other thing I really want to do this evening before I go to bed is catch up with yesterday’s Doctor Who episode. Also, I just realised that Casualty was on. I’d thought it wasn’t on because of football, but it seems I was wrong. I expect it’ll get cancelled at some point during the world cup, though. But anyway, that’s another show I have to catch up with at some time this week. I love a bit of cheesy hospital soapudrama.

I’ve also been thinking about changing the design for this site. I could just plonk a new theme (by someone else) on for a while, while I’m coding up my own one. It’s an idea. One which I shall have a think about! Some more. Yes.

E is for Elementary…

… my dear Watson. Which basically means that Charlotte is here and we’re watching movies! Sherlock Holmes, some of Return of the King, and… whatever else will depend on what time we have. We’ve watched Doctor Who as well, of course. Earlier today we went and saw Ally, and went over to the park where they were having some kind of… something. With music and some stalls set up and all that. It was fun, which is what matters!

Now it’s back to the movie watching. Robert Downey Jnr, yay!

35 – Fic Rec: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in 15 Minutes

No, this isn’t a flashback to the 2003 Blogathon (where I was… reccing Harry Potter fic). Well, not much. I hadn’t read HP fic for ages and ages, but the new movie made me want to go and search some out again. Don’t know why this one did and the others didn’t. Maybe because I’m a little bit between fandoms, even though I’ve been reading Star Trek: Reboot fic on and off. Anyway, I’ve just been reading this, and it was a lot of fun. So here I am passing it on:

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in Fifteen Minutes, by Cleolinda Jones.

DUMBLEDORE: Aren’t we supposed to be at the Dursleys’ for a Very Significant Scene?
HARRY: I, well, uh… thought I’d flirt with this waitress? You know, in a brief attempt at having a relatively normal life?
DUMBLEDORE: Please, the Chosen One doesn’t get to be happy.

Topics for the Blogathon / Q&A

As I said yesterday, one of the things I’m planning to do during the Blogathon is to talk about some of my experiences with being bipolar, and I was hoping that people would ask me any questions they have about the subject so that I could have a go at answering and maybe make some things clearer. I’ve thought of some possible topics to start with, so here’s a handy poll:

[poll id=”2″]

Or do you have any other questions or related topics you’d like me to expound upon? Is there anything specific that you’ve heard about bipolar, or gathered from the media, that you want to know about? Or do you want to know about stupid things I’ve done while manic? Or what knitting has to do with it? Feel free to ask absolutely anything (er, about bipolar / being bipolar) even if you think it’s a bit personal – if I feel it’s not something I want to talk about then I’ll say so, but I’m going to try to be as open and thorough as possible with this. Anyway, leave any other questions in the comments. Thank you!!

And as well as that whole topic, I’m planning to post about:

Knitting: what’s on my needles, recent finished objects, and what I want to do next.
Spinning: it’s the last two days of the Tour de Fleece!
Books, film, TV… maybe. Things that I’ve been reading or watching recently, which may include fanfiction. (Funnily enough I’ve just started reading Harry Potter fanfic again, which is what I did during the first Blogathon I took part in back in 2003. Oh the synchronicity!)
Links to other ‘thon-ers (mostly likely when my brain has shut down in the middle of the night ;-) )

I think that should keep me going!

I’m back!

I did say I was going, didn’t I? I’ve been off in Manchester at the TRA Meet-Up 2007, which was the best con evah. Seriously. Actually, it was more like a pilgrimage than a convention – it wasn’t the kind where several hundred fans are packed into a hotel for a weekend and queued past actors. Which, hey, I’ve been to plenty of and enjoyed very much! But somehow this was better: there were just 50 or so of us, and we visited various filming locations, “met” the Camberwick Green puppet of Sam, and got to sit in the Cortina! So yes. Pretty much the best Life on Mars geekfest possible. There was even a party with fab 70’s style buffet food (and a pub quiz) on the Saturday night. The girls who organised it really went all out and made it a seriously memorable weekend for everyone, plus I met some lovely lovely people. Whee!

I got back down from Manchester on Wednesday evening at…. late-ish. I had to hang around in London for a while to avoid the rush hour – I did think about braving it, but I didn’t really fancy possibly standing all the way to Hastings with my backpack on. I was wiped out when I got home, so I kind of fed the cat and fell into bed at that point. Since then I’ve been (a) recovering and (b) working. Or is it the other way around? Nah, maybe not. ;-) I’m just in the process of ploughing through my email, so if you’re expecting to hear from me… I may be gone some time! Oh alright, I’m being over-dramatic. Hopefully I won’t take very long – at a quick glance I see I have mail from my SP to answer *waves*.

In knitting stuff, I did get a fair bit done on the train journeys, which was nice. I made my second Fetching, and a good start on my first Hedara sock. More about those later when I have photos to prettify the post. Listened to plenty of knitting podcasts, too, which enlivened the whole travelling thing. Hoorah!

I got my Yarn Yard club parcel yesterday, too. :-D I don’t think I mentioned last month’s, which I loved as well. This one is scrummy – I won’t describe it just yet in case there’s anyone reading (is there anyone reading? At all? *g*) who’s in the club and hasn’t had theirs. But it’s bright and delicious, and there were sweets in the package as well! Yum!! I think I definitely do want to use the accent quarter skein for toes and heels this time. I’m just not sure whether to make plain stst socks or do something with a little bit of a pattern / texture. I’ll think on it. And post photos in a couple of days when I’ve taken them.

Right now, though? Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

Back from Germany.

Hello!! I got back from two weeks in Germany yesterday, visiting Noxy and Luna. Had a most excellent time – there was much silliness and laughter, watching of movies, appreciation of the pretty, reading and reccing of fic, and of course, going to Ring*Con. It was absolutely brilliant to see the two of them, and it was also kind of spooky how normal it felt to be all hanging out together… and it completely sucks that we’re not near enough to be able to nip round to see each other at weekends or anything. Humph. But we’ve pledged that we’re going to visit at least once a year if not more often, and made a weekly chat date. *sigh* It’s brilliant that we were able to meet each other through the net and all, but it’s at times like this that I really wish that distance and travel weren’t so much of an issue!! Heh.

I don’t think I’ve actually mentioned it here yet, but I’ve been made redundant from my old tech support job. Which I’m looking at as a positive thing, because I’m now going to take the opportunity to move back into the music world, and start teaching again – hopefully full time, this time. Voice, Clarinet, Recorders, Theory, and beginner Piano. I’m also going to be completing my Teaching DipABRSM, and I’ve signed up for the first course towards a DipMus at the Open University because I fancy a few more letters after my name ;-) Hopefully, I’ll continue on to actually finish my degree in the long run. Shock!! Anyhow, I’m feeling pretty happy about doing this – music really is my Thing, you know? (Eloquently put, hmm?) But much as I love messing around on the computer, and playing with websites and technology and all that, music is what’s in my gut, my soul, the thing that makes me feel (corny as it sounds) whole and real when I’m doing it. And I always really enjoyed teaching – as much, in a different way, as performing and writing.

So there we go, that’s what I’m going to be up to in future, all going well! I’m pretty much set up to start teaching from home, and I have a couple of other possibilities to look into as well. I do, however, really need a car. Urgh. Help? ;-) I’m going to have to do some temping to keep myself going financially, I think, so I’ll hopefully be able to save some money towards getting mobile. It’s either that, or see about getting a loan. Don’t really want more debt, but…. I do need a car!! Damn.

And to change the subject again, here’s last week’s friday five:

1. List five things you’d like to accomplish by the end of the year.
(Does this mean 2003 or 2004? Hmmm…. let’s say it’s this year.)
– To have started up teaching music pupils.
– To have a definite car-getting plan!
– Get a washing machine (does that count as an accomplishment?)
– Be back doing some kind of actual work!
– Get off these damn meds.

2. List five people you’ve lost contact with that you’d like to hear from again.
– Christina
– James
– Ian (Bernard!)
– W (what am I like?)
– Eddie

3. List five things you’d like to learn how to do.
– Play the guitar.
– Car maintainance stuff.
– Ride a motorbike.
– Fly (as in, a plane)
– (Can I save this one for later?)

4. List five things you’d do if you won the lottery (no limit).
– Buy houses / cars / presents for my family.
– Get a car, a motorbike, a boat, a plane.
– Go on a massive world trip to visit all my friends.
– Technology. I would go completely mad with the lovely lovely technology. Mmmmmm.
– Find a damn big house / estate / building and make it into a fabulous fandom house or apartment complex or something, with permanent accommodation for a group of us, plus rooms for people to come to stay… and a big cinema, a library, a highspeed network / net connection, and an octagonal music room with all the instruments and schtuff I / we could ever want…. *vbg*

5. List five things you do that help you relax.
– Read.
– Sing / play music.
– Breathing exercises.
– Walk.
– Spend time with friends, vegging :-)

Blogathon!

Today is Blogathon day, so you want to be right over here.

Go on. Shooo! :-)

EDIT: I’ve now pruned down my blogathon entries to just the fanfic recs and put them on this page for posterity, or something like it.

Continue reading “Blogathon!”

Saw Lord of the Rings

Saw Lord of the Rings today with Megs. And wow. I haven’t read the books yet – very strange that, because I devour books of this genre constantly but have somehow never read any of the Ring ones – and all was still beautifully clear. Spent parts of the film snickering over Sam and Frodo’s obvious beeeyoooutiful lurve, and other parts appreciating Legolas, Aragorn, Boromir and Galadriel….. mainly Legolas – Mmmmm! (And having just read Orlando Bloom’s bio, I’m wondering if Clara knows him, or if I actually ever bumped into him myself, all unknowing…. and if so, daaaaamn!) But in the main I just enjoyed the film. Definitely one I’d see again. Tomorrow. Heheh.

THE GREAT CON DILEMMA: This

THE GREAT CON DILEMMA: This weekend, Sector 14 announced two Buffy cons in June, just after the scheduled Nocturnal one. Only S14 have announced guests, and started selling tickets. So far they have Robin Sachs, George Herzberg, and the make-up guys who came this year. Needless to say, my cheque is in the post for “Eclipse”, the London con (the other one, “Homecoming”, is in Glasgow, and will have roughly the same guest line-up). But of course, this leaves me with a dilemma for Nocturnal. Now, a big part of the whole con thing is to go to meet all my friends and have a massive party all weekend. Megs, Noxy, and Luna are all also going for Eclipse, so that’s cool. But what about everyone else…. I mean, ideally, I want to go to both cons…. I did two weekends in a row last year, so theoretically I should be able to manage. Thing is, though, B says he isn’t going. *sigh* Pesky man. Not that that makes it worse financially – technically it makes it better. But…. pah…..

And in other news, poor baby Alex has had more fits over the weekend. God, it’s horrible, but the vet says he doesn’t even know it’s happening. He’s all happy and purry the rest of the time, so I guess that’s good. And his coat, which was quite rough when we got him, is now all lovely and smooth and silky, so that must mean we’re taking good care of him and everything. *sigh* Trouble is, I’ve got no idea how I’m going to afford the vets bills. Crap. (And I hope they don’t try cashing the cheque for the con too soon, either).

Oh, and I’m applying for a Web Developer job at work – different department, and section and everything. It’s a big company. So fingers crossed.

My photoshoot pics from the

My photoshoot pics from the weekend are up on Con Woman. The ones I took are in the middle of being developed, and I should be getting them back on Friday. I have a somewhat zoned expression in the pic of me with James Marsters cos (apart from Hello, it’s James Marsters!) he was rubbing his hand up and down my arm, and I was all ‘gaaaahhh…. what’s he doing?….’ I know, I’m a sad little fangirl, but I don’t care. All the guests rocked beyond all expectation. I went to the con as a huge James Marsters fan, and liking all the others, and came away a huge James Marsters, Amber Benson, George Herzberg, J August Richards, and Andy Hallett fan. I knew how lovely James was from last year, and this year reinforced that, but the other blew me away as well, with how friendly and open they were too. It’s a curious thing when you find yourself changing from liking (or loving) and enjoying the characters, to loving the actual people. And because I’m a geeky net person, and have no other way that I can think of to express my adoration, I feel another website coming on. Oh dear.

Rediscovered the bird, by the way – it recovered quite well and started flying around…. eventually managed to get it to fly out of the back door, and it disappeared into a tree at the bottom of the garden. I’m thinking that Willow being a mini-cat is actually helping her with the hunting – it must be quite easy for her to get up the trees and along the narrower branches. But why can’t she bring the things she catches to Barry instead of me?!

So. Got stuck in a

So. Got stuck in a bloody three-and-a-half hour traffic jam between Northampton and Milton Keynes and totally missed the concert. I was clearly not meant to be there. Didn’t even make it into London that night – had to crash on cHarley’s floor. Ended up not having a room at the con ($%^$&£^&*!! hotel) and crashed on Luna and Noxy‘s floor there. I’ve barely slept since Wednesday. I ache from head to foot. And I had the best bloody weekend since I don’t know when. It was just fabulous. Thank you Nocturnal people. :-) And now I must sleep before I die. Pics n stuff coming up soon…….

Lalalalalalala – change of plan.

Lalalalalalala – change of plan. The fantabulous cHarley is driving all the way up here (she’s Australian, so I guess a 4 hour drive either way doesn’t seem such a big deal to her *g*) to pick me up and take me down to London. Four Star Mary concert, here I come…….. (Megs, I’ll meet … Continue reading “Lalalalalalala – change of plan.”

(Megs, I’ll meet you off the train at Kings X tomorrow)