Black Ink on White Paper

. . . finding out what I can and can not do with it.

Now, my digital camera will take short videos -- the quality's not great, but I can see myself having fun with it. Like catching Sanji in the act as he commits one of his many, many break-ins.  I tried just to embed the video, but it just sort of embeds the whole page, which then requires scrolling around to see the video, which is just weird.  I'll work on that.

Also, lets see if I figured out how to get that neatly bordered look . . .

From Pretty things

Those are the blossoms of a Bradford Pear tree.  There are a lot of them planted around both my neighborhood and the Plaza where I work.  They're lovely in the spring -- and also in the fall, when their leaves turn this interesting, vari-coloured shade of green-red-yellow.  I'll have to get pictures of that in a few months.

I went with a blue border for that one -- I'll most likely stick to black in future.  Or a very dark grey?  Hmmm. . .

The 9th Annual Stargate Fan Awards is now open for voting!  Go, read!  Vote!


Also, I think I've said, a few times, that my parents were wonderful, generous, loving people, right?  Cause they are.  Dad bought me a new laptop!  Which is awesome!  And now I am spoiled, because M built me a desktop, and now I have a laptop TOO. 

But now that there are two, I think I ought to name them.  The desktop, since it is built from spare parts and is big and rather intimidating looking, was easy to name.  That's Franky. 

But the laptop . . . it is sleek and small and shiny!  I'll be using it mostly to mess with downloading anime/tv shows and play around with music and video, because Franky just isn't fast enough to keep up with that.  As it's a Toshiba, like my old nameless laptop, I am tempted to call it Tosh, but she wasn't actually my favorite Torchword character.  And besides, it's just too easy. 

So what do I call my new laptop?  Hmmm. . .

I was just messing around with Picasa. So now, I'm showing you some old pictures! Logical, right?


( five shots of the cats, the view, and the nephew )

Anyways, they're not great shots or anything.  Just experimenting with my new photo thingy.  I like the easy embedding option!  Much faster than LJ's scapbook.  Now to figure out how to upload them with a nice border and everything. . .

Happy Birthday, shayera !  I hope you're having a wonderful time with your friends and family.

Yay!  Merlin tonight was NOT pushed back by Golf, or anything else!  Which means my DVR didn't miss the last 15 minutes of the second episode, like it did last week.  Which is AWESOME, because it was THAT episode. 

Also, apparently, Being Human will be showing on BBC America next month!  SWEET!  And Torchwood will be back, too!  AND Eureka, over on SciFi (sorry, will that be SyFy?)

I am so very easily pleased, it's kind of sad.

Oh, hey!  I forgot.  I've got two DreamWidth invite codes.  I'm fairly sure everyone on my flist already has one, but if I'm wrong, let me know!  Or if you know anyone who wants one and hasn't got one, send them on over, and I'll oblige.

Yeah, this wasn't weird of me at all, I'm sure. 

I spent a good hour last night creating a mini-bulletin board for my cliche_bingo card -- all laid out in coloured construction paper and ducktape and cardboard. . .  also 35 little squares, with 35 fandoms written on them, so that I can go for a blackout without repeating any fandoms, AND have a few crossovers, AND possible write a postage stamp story.  STILL without any repeats.

It's got little pushpins and everything, so I can rearrange the fandom/prompt relationships if I get stuck.

Ambitious much?  25 - 30 stories before August 31?

Well.  I'm having fun already, so I don't suppose it matters if I manage it or not!

SO.  *rubs hands*  The BigBang fic has been submitted, as of yesterday afternoon.  I have mycliche_bingo card.  And even though the graphic's card on my new computer has already gone buggy (the screen's set at the lowest possible resolution, so low I can't run Firefox!) I can still get on the internet, so, yay?

Anyway, I will now gleefully decide what to do with my bingo card.  I'm considering writing for a different fandom for each story I write . . . although I don't know if I'll be able to go through with that.  Certainly, I'll try my hand at as many as I can manage. 
 

Look!  Look!  If I knew how to make sparkly text, this would totally be sparkly text:  I HAVE INTERNET ACCESS AGAIN.

My friend M, my very very good friend M, has built me a computer.  It's jury rigged, a bit, and I'm using my TV as my monitor, and the video settings need tweaking because it's not really fast enough to play my shows BUT --- I CAN ACCESS THE INTERNET WHENEVER THE HECK I WANT TO!  *\o/*

Which will make getting my BigBang story betaed SO MUCH easier.  *g* 

Now, before I can gleefully catch up with my flist and find all my old bookmarks, I need to finish up the last 2-3 K on my story so that I CAN send it off to beta.  Two days ago I had a full 30k, and then I was reading it over, and ended up stripping out 10k.  GRRR.  The extension was a lifesaver, but now I'm back to nearly the same last-minute situation.  Oh well.  It's less last-minute than it was!

Okay, so there's no problem I can see with finishing my Merlin BigBang story by the 17th (deadline day). 

Getting it finished in time to send it off to Beta and get it back in time to post on the 17th . . . that could be tricky.

Wish me luck!

So, David Eddings is dead?  That sucks. 

His books had their issues, sure, but I'll readily admit I loved the Belgariad, and the Mallorean.  I did.  Just because my taste has expanded some and I've found new books to love, doesn't mean I don't think about my first BIG FANTASY EPIC story.

RIP, Mr. Eddings.

Seen at friendshipper 's lair.

15 Books Meme
You're not supposed to think too long or too hard on this one. List 15 books you've read that will always stick with you -- list the first 15 you can recall in 15 minutes. Don't take too long to think about it. Then tag 15 friends and see if they write their own lists (part of the challenge is to think about which 15 friends would have the weirdest or most interesting book list).


( the books )
I'm not actually surprised that these are almost entirely fantasy novels.  That is what I love, after all!  Several of them will never be considered great literature, or even very good books, but I've read them all multiple times and enjoyed them immensely -- the stories are stuck in my head.

There were several books that really should have been on that list -- their plots/characters/scenes -- even the cover of the book! -- popped immediately into my head, but I just couldn't think of their titles or authors.  Oh well.  It's not like I can REALLY narrow down all the books that will stick with me to 15.

And since I tend to adopt particular authors and read everything of their's that I can get my hands on, it would probably be easier to think of the authors whose work will most stick with me, whether or not I'm still reading their books.  So, just for fun . . .

( the authors )

Of course, this doesn't even COUNT all the manga artists/writers I have on my shelves . . .

From naye, this time around.

The rules are simple, if you're interested leave a comment and I'll LJ stalk you to find THREE FANDOMS you apparently love. And then you answer these questions about them!

1) What got you into this fandom in the first place?
2) Do you think you'll stay in this fandom or eventually move on?
3) Favorite episodes/books/movies/etc.?
4) Do you participate in this fandom (fanfiction, graphics, discussions)?
5) Do you think that more people should get into this fandom?


( Read more... )

AU Fest Fic: All the Cold Stars Above
Title: All the Cold Stars Above
Author: snarkydame 
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: Travelers AU
Disclaimer: I do not claim any ownership of this universe or its characters.
Summary: The team salvages an Ancient ship, but there are pressing problems to consider.

* * * * * ( Read more... )

My second story: 

AU, Week 2: City of Fogs
Title: City of Fogs
Author:

snarkydame
Genre: AU
Prompt Arcane Invention
Word Count: about 8000
Rating: PG - PG13
Warnings: none to speak of
Summary: Sheppard comes home a fugitive, and needs his friends' help to finish a mission he started ten years ago.

 ( Read more... )

I wrote two stories for the ficathon this year -- I'm afraid I was a bit rushed, and it probably shows. *guilty glance*  But I had a lot of fun, and I think it was good for me, the writing thing.

My first story:

Action/Adventure, Week 2: All But the Whites of Their Eyes
Title All But the Whites of Their Eyes
Author

snarkydame
Genre Action/Adventure
Prompt Creature from the black lagoon
Wordcount 6700
Rating PG-13
Warnings none
Summary The team goes to investigate a mysteriously malfunctioning gate on a storm locked world.
Notes Takes place sometime mid season 5.


 

 

---

( Read more... )

It's only 3 o'clock, but the skies are dark enough that the street lights are all on, and the drivers have turned on their headlights.  It's beautiful, watching the storm roll in.

(of course there's a storm -- my building just got all its windows washed! :P)

I just posted my Team SGA AU Fest fic -- I'll add it to my own journal later, I think.  To celebrate finishing it, I finally watched the SGA finale.  Yeah.  I know.  I was sorta hoarding it.

Anyway, now I can concentrate fully on finishing my Merlin Big Bang fic!  Woot!

So, I'm on dreamwidth now -- thanks again blucola ! -- but since my internet access is spotty and short term, I won't get to do much customization for awhile.  But it's fun!  I'll have to figure out how to crosspost during my next library-internet session.

Alas, my Toshiba has lost the long fight in the ICU.  The tech guys say the motherboard is shot, completely, and since the cost to repair the laptop is comparable to the cost of getting a brand new laptop . . . I'm going for a new one. 

But all is not lost!  My generous mother is letting me borrow her laptop until my new one arrives -- it's old and clunky and slow, but I should be able to connect to the internet!  And that would be awesome.

Then I could read all the cool fic that's arriving from the SGA Genficathon! 

EDIT:  Or, you know, the borrowed laptop could be lacking a network card.  *headdesk*

So I can't actually connect to the internet at my convienence, but must still trek the whole grueling block and a half over to the library and do it there.  But at least I will be able to type!  So I can finish my stories and then send them from the library, using a USB thingy.  All is not lost!

Submitting fic on time when your laptop is under repair (but apparently, not Dead!  So that's cool!) is interesting, to say the least.  But, so long as the attachment opened all right (Macs are odd about some things.  And I'm no longer used to using one.) both of my genficathon stories are safely submitted, with time to spare.  \o/

And I may have an easier time of it with my SGA Team Au thing.  If all goes well I'll have my Toshiba back by the beginning of next week (or sooner!  I hope sooner.).

Might even finish it in time to find a beta!  That would be nice.  I'm good about grammar, most of the time, and spellcheck is easy enough.  But I'm afraid there are a lot of unneccessary parenthetical phrases and weird punctuation in my stories, when I don't have fresh eyes to spot them.

Oh well.  Such is life, yeah?

Now, here's hoping they can fix my Toshiba without erasing my HD.  I don't WANT to rewrite the first half of my Merlin BigBang story!  It's SOOO long! (for me.  Long is a relative term. . . ) ^_^