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Below are the most recent 25 friends' journal entries.
- 00:48 my #lastfm tweet makes me sad - clearly i've not been listening to much music this week. need to fix that. #
- 00:48 also, i would really rather be sleeping right now instead of up with an allergy attack. just fyi #
- 13:08 The Loonies is on TBS right now. :) I've watching little spinets during football game commercials. #
- 13:08 GOONIES. stupid spell check #
| Thursday, November 26th, 2009 | ||
| ngaio | 9:25p | Day 26 I love to bake. I don't know why I prefer baking to making actual meals, I don't have much of a sweet tooth really, will almost always pick crisps over chocolate, but I love to bake. Possibly because I resent meals and being hungry, and baked goods are a *treat* and therefore fun. I like being able to take stuff into work and feed the masses (did I tell you? entire tray/dish of brownies gone by 11am a few weeks ago - gannets the lot of 'em) and make people smile and enjoy the food. But it's not important food, you know, if people don't like it it doesn't matter because I'm not feeding them a meal which has to get them through a third of the day, whatever it is I make it's *extra* and fun. I have issues, I'm aware. Whatever! I make several standard recipes: Lemon cheesecake - this is a very very simple recipe which I've posted once before here and I love it because it is very very adaptable. Dark chocolate brownies - this recipe here. I have much appreciation for this site, it breaks down recipes in a way I understand. And this recipe is, say it with me, very very adaptable. I have added all sorts of things into this one, not sticking with nuts (though I've done nuts) but lots of different fruit, sometimes all at the same time! Last time I made them I had dried cherries, raspberries and strawberries in there - yum. I'm thinking of trying it nearer Christmas and taking out the vanilla essence and adding in some blackcurrant brandy. I used to make some simple cookies (a Jamie Oliver recipe) but I've gone off them recently and am planning on experimenting with different cookie and biscuit recipes a bit in the New Year. I also used to make a (forgive me German speakers for mangling this spelling) Marmorgugelhupf which was a ring cake marbled cocoa and rum cake with pale sponge with lemon rind/juice with a lemon icing which was a complete devil to make and I loved. But I lost the recipe. My problem now is that I don't know the basics, and the science. For example I've just made some chocolate fudge (using ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} trulybloom's recipe - thank you (ps had to leave the marshmallow out as I can't get it here - sorry)) and now I'm wondering - if I leave out the chocolate do I need to add something else or will the sugar/butter/evaporated milk 'be' fudge in their own right? If I leave out the vanilla essence and add some blackcurrant brandy instead will it do something fatal to the consistency? If I use caster sugar, or light brown sugar instead of the granulated which I had on hand what difference will it make? (I have a feeling the only answer is experimentation and some very sugar-rushed colleagues.)But I would like, somewhen, to find a good explanation of the balance of ingredients required to make cake, or fudge, or biscuits, because the more I play the more I risk complete failure and if I don't know what I did wrong then I can't put it right and play even more. And I like playing with baking! Current Mood: thoughtful |
|
karadin |
9:58a | I give thanks for my friends But this man can say it better than I can. Aishiteru means I love you. HAPPY THANKSGIVING |
|
icarusancalion |
9:39a | Thanksgiving Thanksgiving. I was just informed that mom and her roommate were expecting me to do the Thanksgiving turkey. Along with pumpkin pie (crust from scratch) and my cheesecake. Whut-? This is going to be one of those weeks, isn't it? Good thing it's 9am. |
|
icarusancalion |
9:26a | And the computer goes *boom* ... the fic vanishes Here's a fanfiction heart attack. Midway through my ![[info]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small} sga_santa fic, the borrowed laptop suddenly freezes. Current Mood:  awake |
| Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 | ||
|
karadin |
9:38p | Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody Lots of old faves! And now broadcast in higher rez. |
|
nakedbee |
6:05p | Masterpiece photoshoot, part 2 My housemates and I host a masquerade every year and I took advantage of all the snazzily dressed people to do some more photos in the "Masterpiece" series. We didn't get fancy with costumes and props like last time, but there's something to be said for just going with things as-is (and it certainly didn't hurt that everyone was dolled up in fancy clothes to start with!). On to the gallery!  This entry was originally posted at http://nakedbee.dreamwidth.org/3742.htm |
|
ranalore |
2:23p | don't i look fetching in my leather coat and goggles? Wrangler RPF avec moi! Check out the rest of the Wrangulatorverse, starting with "forma." Perhaps I shall write one myself, after I open the can of worms that is significance of name order in pairing listings in certain fandoms (and certain segments of certain other fandoms, which is gonna be the fun part) and if it's possible to do synonyms with a disambiguation option. ETA: Pray for me. I just claimed seaQuest. This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. Please comment there using OpenID. Current Mood:  pleasedCurrent Music: Kate Bush - Jig Of Life |
| ngaio | 8:53p | Day 25 I know I have several good topic suggestions left from when I asked a week or so ago and I am planning on using them but not tonight. Tonight I have worn my body out (well, tonight and last night) and my brain has followed. Today at work I got asked if I was OK by Allegra. And Hugh. And Lucy. (Lucy also informed me that I looked 'worn' which really, yeah, probably!) I'm kinda interested in exactly how I looked so bad ... did people expect me to produce an axe and start slashing at other people or myself?! Or was it more a case of any minute I may hide under my desk and whimper? Anyway it hasn't actually been a particularly bad day, or even week. No amazingly stupid edicts have come down from on high, the customers I've spoken to have been surprisingly mellow and helpful and appreciative, I've made some inroads into the mountains of paper which are my desk ... yeah, not particularly bad, especially compared to the last few months. Huh.::shrugs:: Dunno. I do know that in addition to the two days off I have early December where I'm heading to Oxford a-steampunkin' I also have an additional three days I need to take off before the end of December. Frankly I wanted to be able to carry them over to next year but the PTB have ruled that no leave can be carried over (a bit of a bugger for Wizard, my boss, who has 22 days left!) so I need to take three random days off in the next 5 weeks or so. Maybe I'll just have the next three Mondays off and have some long weekends. Possibly then I'll look less 'worn' and more ... something. Current Mood: tired |
| Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 | ||
|
ranalore |
9:45p | this is my brain avoiding productivity Because when there's wrangling to be done and fic to be revised or drafted, that's clearly the time for a meme. Entry not yet tagged for the fic, so as not to spoil the surprise. Lifted from longsufferingly:1. Write down the names of 10 characters.2. Write a fic of fifteen words or less for every prompt, using the characters determined by the numbers. Do NOT read the prompts before you do step 1. 1. Kurosaki Hisoka (Yami no Matsuei) 2. Jin Bora (Anyband) 3. Stephanie (CSJH) 4. Jensen Ackles (CW RPF) 5. Kim Junsu (DBSK) 6. Clayman (GetBackers) 7. Elizabeth Swann (PotC) 8. Satine (Moulin Rouge) 9. Trinity (The Matrix) 10. Ben (Dark Angel) ( Crack this way ) This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. Please comment there using OpenID. Current Mood:  cold |
|
ranalore |
5:56p | here, have some synonyms Put in CSJH and Chun Sang Ji Hee for CSJH. For Dong Bang Shin Ki: DBSK Dong Bang Shin Gi DBSG TVXQ TVfXQ Tong Vfang Xien Qi Tohoshinki THSK Currently, there are no Banjun Theatre stories in the archive. Like Anyband FPF, my instinct is that it should be a distinct subfandom that's searchable on its own or as part of a DBSK search, but the ability to create subfandoms and metafandoms isn't yet in place, so if you've got a Banjun story, just put it in as a new fandom. Now I get to decide if I want to wrangle more synonyms for CSJH or concentrate on one fandom at a time and wrangle all the synonyms for the DBSK pairings that are already in the system (oh, sweet mother of Mike). Also, I'm not quite sure what to do about the fact that Minho is both a DBSK pairing and a member of SHINee. I don't think I can wrangle it into one fandom when another's guaranteed to want to use it, even if they're in different Oh, yeah, and Chaotic Butterfly's now a fandom, and I moved The Good King to movies and threw the synonym "Good King Wenceslas" at it. Somebody let me know if there's fic for the carol and I need to change that. ETA: Went ahead and synonymized TSZX, TJCK, Tenjo Chiki, Tenjochiki, and Tian Shang Zhi Xi (which I'm gonna have to mess with if they change the code to allow non-English accented characters). ETA 2: THIS IS ANOTHER REASON TO HATE THAT STUPID "THE GRACE" BS. *snarls and synonymizes it, though she wants it on record that SHE OBJECTS* This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. Please comment there using OpenID. Current Mood:  hungry |
| ngaio | 8:53p | Day 24 mabiana suggested I write about my cat. So I shall!Actually I have two cats, brothers, who are around 11 years old. They are rescue cats who were abandoned, rescued, re-homed and then had to be rescued from the home because the woman who took them couldn't cope with them. We got them when they were about 14 weeks old and we went to the rescue place looking for little kittens (like a lot of people do) and these two ... one of 'em just decided we (especially Henry) were theirs. That was it. Done. So yes, two cats. One is ginger and white and I refer to him here as Thing 1 though I don't think it matters if I reveal that his RL name is Jacob. Or Hobbit. Or Hobbos, Jack Hobbos. He's the cat who rules outside, he has his territory and he patrols it religiously. Once when it snowed we could see he followed the exact same route each time he patrolled from the footprints in the snow. He's a very very purry cat and likes to sleep up my right arm onto my chest which makes typing tricky. His brother is Thing 2 who is black and white, has the longest whiskers in the world, and 'rejoices' in the name Isaac. Or Whizzle. Or Whizzle-kit.He rules the indoor arena. He is very very stupid and does not learn. He is the cat who fell out of the upstairs window three times in one weekend and still does fall out of the window whenever he's decided that's where he's sleeping. He also falls off sofa backs, tables, sideboards, the piano, the computer table ... you get the picture. While Jacob is getting slightly less reliable when jumping because I think he's getting a little old in the legs as it were, Isaac has never been good at any kind of physical activity. I would sympathise as this is very much my attitude too if it weren't for the fact he does not learn. At all. Isaac is Henry's cat. Entirely. I can feed him and stroke him but Henry wins his attention every time. Actually by virtue of the fact that my lap is almost always full of laptop Henry is the person of choice for both cats when they're in a lap (rather than a right arm!) mood. Often this results in one cat settling on Henry's lap and the other settling up his chest by sitting on the first cat. Surprisingly neither of them seem that fussed about being sat on by the other one. I don't know how they sleep at night because they're shut in the kitchen but I do know it involves pulling clean clothing off the airer and sleeping on it. Thus making us wash it again! Blinking cats! Current Mood: calm |
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icarusancalion |
2:58a | 500,000 animals being slaughtered right now. My mom has been talking about this for weeks: 500,000 animals to be ritually slaughtered? On Tuesday, November 24th the Gadimai animal sacrifice festival will take place in southern Nepal. It is said that 500,000 animals including buffaloes, chickens, goats, pigs, rats, and birds will be tortured and slaughtered during this Hindu festival. Write to the Nepalese Embassy: info@nepalembassyusa.org In India, the ritual slaughter of animals in such rites as the Agnicayana has long been replaced with effigies. There is no religious reason for this throwback. Despite the detailed instructions in Leviticus, Judaism no longer sacrifices the fatted calf. Like that. Current Mood:  blah |
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icarusancalion |
12:42a | What no one will tell you about college. I'm tutoring high school students, prepping them for the SAT. I think what they need as much as good SAT scores are some good college strategies. Share yours here. So here it is: What no one will tell you about college (until you get there). 1 - Want to increase your scores 5% without doing anything? ( Sit in the same seat every day ) 2 - Talk to your professor outside of class. ( Disagree with your prof? Good! Take it to her/him at the end of class. ) 3 - Bored? Ask a question. ( Every time I found myself zoning out during a class I would raise my hand ) 4 - Avoid clock-watching. ( Avoid the clock-watching tick by sitting where you can't see the clock. ) 5 - High school is for taking the classes you hate. College is for taking the classes you love. ( Don't be a masochist -- if you can avoid that hated math class by taking a much more interesting astronomy class, do it. ) 6 - Know thyself. Work with your habits rather than against them. ( If you suck at mornings, don't take that 8:30am Japanese class. ) 7 - Avoid schizophrenia and be efficient: Take related classes at the same time. ( You can use your readings from Indian history as sources for your Indian lit class and vice versa. ) 8 - If the class you want is booked, show up anyway, books in hand, and participate vigorously. ( The professor would rather have you as an extra student than the disinterested slackers in the back. ) 9 - Give yourself flexibility: Plan, plan, plan. ( When you're not sure of your major, take classes that apply to all three of your most likely majors first. ) 10 - The one I learned too late: Build a relationship with professors who are top in their field by taking more than one class with them. ( If they're a bit of a name, their opinion carries weight. ) Current Mood:  happyCurrent Music: Skid Row |
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icarusancalion |
12:17a | Reason number 211 why I love these high school students. Reason number 211 why I love my high school tutoring students: A student wrote his SAT essay. He detailed how, scientifically speaking, the planet doesn't need humans. <3 |
| Monday, November 23rd, 2009 | ||
|
ranalore |
8:35p | DBSK: The Air Up There The Air Up There by Rana Eros (DBSK, OT5, wardrobe mishaps, 200 words) In which Changmin is tall and their designer is never allowed to go on vacation again. Ever. Author's Notes: I want it known that Keiko totally abuses her modly power. Which is how it should be. Written for Keiko, and for the drabble challenge topic of "boots" over at dbsk_flashfic. Eliza-tested, Eliza-approved (and you shoulda heard what she was talking about). ( The Air Up There ) This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. Please comment there using OpenID. Current Mood:  amusedCurrent Music: ANYBAND - TPL (Talk Play Love) |
| ngaio | 6:41p | Day 23 I am declaring today a skip day. I'm knackered, I have no brain power at all and am planning to go to bed at the same time as my nine year old which is 7.30 which is in just under an hour and boy does that seem a long time to have to stay up. I'll do an extra day on the end, 'k? Current Mood: exhausted |
| Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 | ||
|
elke_tanzer |
9:58p | George Lucas Totally Owes Me A Drink (Star Wars fandom, don't ever say I don't give you pressies.) On the AO3, there now exist fandom titles for: Star Wars (Comics) Star Wars (Video Games) For all of the book series' various eras, using http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_St - Star Wars: Sith Era - Various (synonym: Star Wars: Old Republic Era - Various) - Star Wars: Rise of Empire Era - Various - Star Wars: Rebellion Era - Various - Star Wars: New Republic Era - Various - Star Wars: New Jedi Order Era - Various - Star Wars: Legacy Era - Various For the films: The synonym fandom titles for Star Wars Original Trilogy are currently: # Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi # Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope # Star Wars: A New Hope # SW:ANH # ANH # Star Wars Episode V: Empire Strikes Back # Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back # A New Hope # The Empire Strikes Back # Star Wars: Return of the Jedi # Return of the Jedi # SW:RotJ # RotJ # SW:ESB # SW:TESB # ESB As soon as we get metatagging capability, Star Wars will be a separate tag which encompasses all of the component Star Wars fandoms under its umbrella, so to speak... all of the movies and expanded universe tie-ins and books and videogames and tv shows and whateverthehellelse... and we'll all be able to breathe a little easier. The synonym fandom titles for Star Wars Prequel Trilogy are currently: # The Phantom Menace # Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace # Star Wars: The Phantom Menace # Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones # Star Wars (TPM) # Star Wars Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith # Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith # Revenge of the Sith # Star Wars: Attack of the Clones # Attack of the Clones # SW:AotC # AotC # SW:RotS # RotS # SW:TPM - Fandom (this is a slight glitch that we'll have to deal with tomorrow related to when the rake process rakes; there is also currently a freeform tag TPM which should ultimately possibly be a fandom tag synonym instead, but I'm not sure, since it's being used as a timeframe-type freeform, like pre-ANH or pre-TPM) # Phantom Menace Additional references: http://www.imdb.com/find?q=star+war http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expanded_U http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Pag http://www.njoe.com/index.php?id=vi (Also, should anyone feel the need (I will not be held responsible for what may result): Star Wars Holiday Special (TV)) ETA: My tag wrangling process has been ficced. OMG. Love. This entry was originally posted at http://elke-tanzer.dreamwidth.org/101672 Current Mood:  busy |
|
katfusion |
11:01p | Tweet Tweet! Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter |
|
ranalore |
6:28p | yuletidiness, ao3 nattering, being nuna, and broken is the word Refreshed self on Yuletide source yesterday, and was reminded of how much I love it. Love also gives me wings. Today, fighting with the denouement of my Yuletide story. Either my recipient will like it, or ze'll learn to embrace the details field and Yule letter tradition next year. Has anyone actually submitted the suggestion to the AO3 pantheon that the character limit on the pairings field be extended? Also, I am pondering wuzzle wrangling. I might not have the spoons, on the one hand, but on the other, I have a *koff* decent knowledge of some, ah, obscurer fandoms. Also, I just like saying it. Wuzzle wrangler. It's kinda like speaking Welsh. No Nuna Exchange stories so far, but I suspect that'll change at the end of the month, if this year is anything like the last two. Also, I have been sounding off a bit in nuna_fans so as not to blast the dbsg comm with my special blend of "you people are stupid," "damn kids get off my lawn," "vive le revolution," and "would you like some self-absorption with that entitlement?" Tl;dr version: three members of DBSK are suing their management company for, frankly, unspeakably vile terms of contract. Cue mass freakout by kids afraid they'll break up and inclined to blame the three members for bringing it up rather than the company for, y'know, pulling shit. Cue Rana wanting to reach through the screen and beat a whole lot of people with her keyboard. Or just tell them all to grow the hell up before they interact with the rest of the human race. Returning to writing, because it calms me, or at least allows me to channel my severe misanthropy in ways that won't get me arrested: my Broken Toys story is in fragments that nearly equal 3K words, none of them anywhere near a climax. So I guess I know what I'll be doing once the Yuletide is drafted. This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. Please comment there using OpenID. Current Mood:  busyCurrent Music: Tohoshinki - Forever Love (Bell'n'Snow Edit) |
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icarusancalion |
8:22p | Women ninjas. The music awards: Shakira has women ninjas! |
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elke_tanzer |
4:56p | Useful links... http://twitter.com/otw_news http://twitter.com/AO3_Status/ http://transformativeworks.org/ And really, the current temporary AO3 glitch is not related to the Star Wars Holiday Special, I swear. (Don't ask. Tag wrangler humor.) This entry was originally posted at http://elke-tanzer.dreamwidth.org/101649 Current Mood:  calm |
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icarusancalion |
4:47p | Quantifying a life. Good news on the work front: My tutoring job is going to give me 16 hours a week as of Dec. 1, which is great. It's an improvement. The pay rate is good, and it gives me the required experience I need for teaching. (90 hours is the magic number. I'll have it by the end of December. Then I need a year of school for the teaching certificate.) Unfortunately, it's not quite enough to live off of. I don't have a car in car-dependent Maryland, so I'm having to ask "mommy" for rides to work, to interviews. I have all the time in the world to write -- yet can't find the space because I have to write around other people's schedules. It's been four months and I'm getting the feeling she's burned out. As am I. I want my life back. Quantifying a life. ( When I drove across country to Seattle in 1996, I had a car. ) Aside from the degrees, how did I end up with less than when I started? |
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icarusancalion |
3:35p | Mousie report. Mousie report. Some of you may recall this post wherein a family of mouse babies took up residence in one of my fleece jackets (in a box that happens to be outdoors). I discovered this when I pulled my jacket out of the box, scattering mouse infants everywhere. I removed my other jackets, packed the box with newspaper, and used newsprint to scoop the littles back in the box. A week later I discovered I'd missed four mouse babies, who'd fallen into a box I took inside. Noooo.... Then the temperature dropped and I thought the outdoor mousies were history. Three weeks later ... I'm happy to report that the mouse babies survived, and have moved on. But the nest is clearly there, and there are no apparent corpses. Proof of life: the fleece jacket was not so lucky, sacrificed to the cause. The Mousies chewed a few holes. Unless Rainy Pass can fix it. |
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icarusancalion |
3:11p | Buddhism questions: passing the buck. People always ask me about Buddhism ... and I'm caught flat-footed. You should ask a good Buddhist! Well we're in luck. And online, too. Tulku Orgyen has offered to help anyone with any questions about Buddhism: http://twitter.com/TulkuOgyen Retweet, tweeters. And thank you, Tulku Orgyen, for letting me pass the buck. Current Mood: amused |
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icarusancalion |
3:02p | The Olympics are coming! The Olympics are coming! The Olympics are coming! The Olympics are coming! If you're like me (in years past) you probably tune in to these winter sports, oh, once every four years. You get a general sense of who the favorites are from the announcers and interviews, roll your eyes at the inspirational life story clips, and root for the home team. Now you don't have to be in the dark. You can be knowledgeable long before the Olympics hit. At least about figure skating. (Everyone, feel free to correct me. I'm not an expert, I've just been following skating to the best of my ability for a couple years.) Right now the horse race is on. It's the Grand Prix. As we speak, world class skaters are competing in a series of competitions Russia, France, Canada, the U.S., Japan, and er, I think elsewhere. Right now they're trying to earn points to get to the Grand Prix final -- and prove themselves worthy of the Olympic teams. You see, last March at the World Championships each country won the number of slots they'd have at the Olympics based on how their skaters did. (The max is three.) China was very disappointed to not win any for men's figure skating. In a real shocker, the U.S. women's figure skating only scored two slots as our current National champ fell apart. But our men are doing fab. Evan Lysacek won the gold at Worlds and we have a "deep field," namely, many guys running neck and neck for the same titles. Let's have a look at our boys. The Americans.  The ever-hot gentleman, Evan Lysacek. (The belt buckle is Batman, with cable and bat-grappling hook.) ( Evan has the quad. He has the fire. He's a skater who starts pouring it out in the last 30 seconds of his performance.... ) Finally, there's Mabanoozerabadahblbrghf. Graceful, fluid, fun to watch. I don't know if he'll keep moving up, he's still inconsistent. But he has a musical sense that makes him figure skating eye candy. Only three will make it to the Olympics. Which three? We'll know at Nationals in Spokane, January 2010. Tomorrow: those other guys, yeah, them foreigners. Current Mood: bleary |