I should be writing this on Twitter or facebook, but seeing as my RL friends and my sister are followers... er, no. So I'll share it with you guys.




I just wrote what I think might be one of my best sex scenes. I can't wait until I can post it. :D

I never thought I would be one of those people, you know?

Somehow, somewhere along the line I became my own cliche. You know the type: The atheist vegetarian environmentalist who lives in NorCal?

Yeah.

But I gotta tell you... I'm on my second month of giving up chicken, red meat and pork (Still clinging onto fish as I have to eat SOMETHING in restaurants, and I personally believe that dairy does more good than bad, especially for women). And suddenly, I have more energy than before. I used to get so tired mid-day, like clockwork. And I used to have to sleep 9 hours a day  on top of that to feel normal.

I wasn't expecting it at all, but within a few weeks I noticed a upsurge in energy. Now I can go 7 or 8 hours of sleep a night and not be tired in the next day. Sometimes I feel a little drowsy around 3 or 4, but it's easy to work through it.

And the meals? I don't feel like I'm giving up anything at all. Now, instead of microwaving a hot-pocket for a snack, I'll grab an apple. It's not bad. I substitute mushrooms or tofu or avocados or cucumber in place of meat in my meals. It makes things easier and faster to cook. I'm eating better, feeling better, and as an added bonus I'm pretty sure I'm losing weight.

It's still possible to eat very poorly on a more restrictive diet. I have to be careful not to, say, eat a bag of Cheetos from the vending machine instead of some trail-mix.

There's always the placebo effect, I suppose. But the thing is, I wasn't expecting any of these benefits. It's like when I gave up soda last year to keep from getting so many damned cavity and the stomach-aches that have haunted me all my life suddenly went away. Turns out they were caused by carbonated drinks. Weird, huh? 

So yeah, I guess I am one of 'those people' now. Damned hippies. I'm only on my third month in, but... so far, so good.

Um. Okay, so I was feeling a little uninspired today (stressful day tomorrow) and I decided to go to the local Barnes and Noble to get my kicks reading newly published books for free. I read:

Neil Gaiman's: The Problem With Susan -- Lame.
Avatar: The Pandora survival field guide -- Also lame.


Finally, I picked up a book called. Strange Brew, which was a collection of short stories. I turned to the first: Seeing Eye by Patricia Briggs.

Um...

So stop me if this sounds a little familiar to you. There's a witch called Moira who is a small statured blind woman with black hair. Apparently, her one eye that is left (which is useless) is a shade of green. She also uses magic in some ways to sort of 'sense' things around her. Her blindness is also the source of her well of magic, apparently.

The other character is Tom. Tom's a werewolf. He's also a sort of a hot-head with gold-brown eyes (Briggs' description, not mine), and scaring on one side of his face due to a fae attack and...

... Yeah, at this point I realized I didn't care what else happened in the story. I was reading one of my favorite OTP's. Modern Toph/Zuko FTW!

Anyway, I totally recommend Strange Brew. Or at least, the first story. I think it could have been a little fleshed out some more (perhaps some bending thrown in there for laughs?), but it was a good way to waste a half-hour. Especially if you have that particular visualization going on in your head, like me.

Clearly I need to get out of fandom a little more often.

Stolen from fourth_rose 

( Avatar: TLA )

( Dexter )


( Harry Potter )

Before I turn in for sleepy-times, I just have to pimp out a fic I found about six months ago... and have read about twice a month ever since. IT'S THAT GOOD.

http://maldoror-gw.livejournal.com/3153.html

Hunter's Moon

This is a Kakashi/Iruka one-shot that really takes a hard look at the violence and deception that's pretty much the way of the Ninja. But don't worry, it'll have an ending that will satisfy. And the action is top notch. One of these days, when I get my butt in gear and make a rec list for Naruto fic, this will be at the top of the list.

Just read it!

(And don't forget the companion piece: End Mission.)

Keep in mind, I have a butt-load of real life to-do things, but I save boring real life stuff for my facebook. Here's my FANDOM to-do list this weekend.

• Write three prompt answers to the darkfic meme. (3/14 currently done. I'm lame.)
• Review Fragile, Embers, and Distorted Realities.
• Write another segment to In His Shoes (You know, the one I promised to update every day?)
• Write up until the 'tea with the enemy' part on the super-sekrit Haiti-fic (Due Feb 14th)
• Find some way to get unstuck from a sticky part in Another Brother.
• Reply to reviews.
• Beta work for Kim and Amelia. (This is a must!)
• Think about re-writing NaNoWriMo.
• Find and read some sexy fic... You know, for research. ;D
• Figure out what I'd like eilonnwy  to draw for me for Haiti Auction win.
• MOST IMPORTANTLY: Do NOT start anything new until I've finished at least half of this! (Stop tempting me, universe!!!!)

If there's anything else fandom-wise I owe ya, speak now or forever hold your peace. (Or at least, until monday. Ha!)

This is all.

Dear Landlord,

Please go to your nearest google, type in the word Pitt bull and then type in English Mastiff. While booth breeds tend to have a boxy muzzle and could, perhaps, be mistaken for one another while the mastiff is under 5 months old, there are some differences you should be aware of.

This is a pitbull:




And this would be an English Mastiff. 





My mastiff is on the smaller scale of her breed size, being roughly 150lbs. She is fully house-trained, barks only when someone is at the door, and spends roughly 23 hours of the day sleeping. She is also not a pitt bull or a pitt bull type. Thank you.

Happy birthday to my dear friend dungeonwriter ! May your 24th year be filled with selling articles, fanfiction, and law school learnin'! :D

Hey all! beckyh2112  is having a anti whump-Zuko meme. It's gonna be good, but I thought it would be fun to explore the... darker side of our favorite fandom, in contrast.

This is not just Zuko-whump meme, per say. All Avatar characters are welcome in order to explore their darkest sides. After all, the road to hell is paved with good intentions isn't it? *Grin*

So go on and reply with up to 4 requests. I promise to do at least 1 from everyone, so do your darnest to be dark. (Although I'm drawing the line at rape and incest.)

I've been a bit... down this week, flist. It's all real life stuff that's more whiney than traumatic, so I won't get into it. I'm also behind on my writings, if you haven't noticed.

BUT! storytellersjk posted a really interesting story about one of the first stories that she got into (the Hobbit) where it was mentioned that she started reading at... 3.

And I thought, (as I watched the last episode of Concan) hey, the people on my flist are well read... readerly folk. This sounds like the perfect opportunity to conduct a silly poll.

SO! At what age did you begin to read? What was the first thing you remember reading?

My parents read to me ever since I was a baby, but I was taught to read in first grade at age 6. That meant a lot of years of pointing at random signs along the road and asking my parents what they said. I must have been one hell of an obnoxious kid. My mom would mostly ignore me, but when she did answer I could be sure that it was actually what the sign said. "It says 'For Rent'." My dad would usually answer, but while he'll never cop to it, I'm pretty sure he'd make stuff up.

"It says they're giving away free ponies."

"Really?!"

"Yeah, but they're all sold out."

The first thing I remember reading, all by myself was the word 'Black'. Until that time words and -- God forbid -- entire sentences was a vague, nebulous concept that adults understood, but I sure didn't. Then out of the blue I recognized one of the words that my teacher had put up on the blackboard that day in a book lying around. I, being a natural praise whore, pointed it out to my mother. She exclaimed that I had just read. I informed her (quite coolly) that no, I hadn't. I had just remembered the word from earlier a few days ago.

"That is reading," she told me.

Oh. Well, it was a lot easier from then on. ;D

I can't remember the first book I actually read. I suspect it was one of the Golden Readers. You know, those short children's book's with the metallic binding on the edge that tasted oddly tinny, yet soooo satisfying...

... Ahem.

So what about you, dear flist?

Edit: Auction is closed! It was a close one to the end, but it looks like the winner is Bluetiger! Thank you everyone for your bids!

Sorry for being off the internets for the last few days, guys. I just wanted to update and say that the Haiti auction is ending soon! There have been some generous bids so far! :D here is my offer. If you'd like to off your own fic writing/beta reading/artisic skills then please look at help_haiti .




And don't forget everyone else!



attackfish  is here
suzukiblu  is here
beckyh2112  is here
sharkflip  is here
spyridona  is here
dark_puck  is here
eilonnwy  is here
floranna  is here and here

I'm going ahead and offering my fanfiction writing shenanigan services, in an effort to raise some money to help the people of Haiti. The thread with a description of what I'm offering can be found here. If you'd like to off your own fic writing/beta reading/artisic skills then please look at help_haiti .

There are some other generous people on my flist who are doing the same.

attackfish  is here
suzukiblu  is here
beckyh2112  is here
sharkflip  is here
spyridona  is here
dark_puck  is here

I like how my life has gone from CRAZY BUSY in the last two days -- so busy I could barely get on my beloved internets -- to nothing at all. Lame. In other news:

*rubs eyes tiredly*

Sorry I haven't been around much, guys. Three interviews in two days among other real life stuff which has crashed down in the last 48. Unfortunately one interview was for a company I'm pretty sure will end up being a scam, and one's a retail job I'm not sure will pay much above min wage. The THIRD interview, however, was a second round interview for a job I really want. I think I might have done well, although when I feel like I do well in anything, it turns out I didn't. *shrug*

So what does one wear to an interview for a wastewater treatment operator? I guessed my nicest jeans, business casual shirt and black work-boots. Well, either way it's all over now. They said they're going to make their choice next week. Cross your fingers for me?

Well I couldn't sleep last night and I tried my hand at making some icons. In the process, I learned a few things:

1) Making icons is harder than it looks.
2) It's hard to find Sokka scowling or Zuko being goofy for the time frame I wanted.


Since I'm in an IHS kick, I made that the theme. Here they are, in order from first to last.

     



What do you think? Any hints on how to...er... improve myself? I'm not gifted with the visual arts and usually have to learn things by route. I use MSPaint (which I'm great at) and PSE editor (which I'm still learning).

Edit: And of course, they're sorta out of focus for some bizarre reason. *head desk* Help?

This fandom secret (not made by me!) has totally broken through my recent demotivation.
In short, I have GOT to finish In His Shoes. It has maybe three or four chapters (at most) to go before its finished, but Another Brother sorta jumped in and took over my muse. Now it's been more than a year and I have got to buckle down and finish it, because if I don't.... well, how can anyone trust me to finish any WIP's if I never do?

So here's my awesome plan:

I work best under pressure, so I'm going to commit myself to post whatever I have of IHS on my journal once a day. It may be a scene or two, or even just paragraph or two, but I will write and I will post every day.

Here's the important part for you: I'm aware that people are very protective of their friend's list, and a fic update once a day for me along with my constant real life bullshit I feel the need to write about AND my updates of my other fic might just overwhelm some of you. And hey, maybe Avatar isn't your fandom or it's not a story that you like. I understand. So if that's the case please comment to this post and I'll create a filter from my friend's list and make sure you don't get a daily update from this fic in process. No hurt feelings on my end, no clogging up your friends list. Cool? Cool.

Because it's been so long since I updated, here's a link to the fic: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4302297/1/In_His_Shoes up to the current chapter. It'll be updated there once I have built enough scenes on my journal to make up a chapter.

Well, I'm off to write. Hopefully my first update will be in an hour or two.

Edit: I just realized that this also means that anyone not on my friends list probably won't be able to see the entries. (At least until it goes up on fanfiction.net). I know I sometimes get lurkers so don't be shy if you want to be friended. I don't bite. Hard.