[sob] I'm far too easily distracted these days... but what a wonderful few hours...

This is the first page of Alien Dice, an online comic I found entirely by accident and got sucked into at something closely approaching the speed of light. Of course, it helps that the main protagonist is an adorable golden-eyed, blue-skinned alien with a dead cute hairstyle... It's not yaoi, though there are hints of warmer than usual male-male friendship, and no sex (yet...) though a large proportion of the charas are extremely sexy. There are all sorts of anime and manga resonances throughout the comic - and the vast bulk of it is in colour...

I'm hooked....

[grins at onna] Any time, meijin...

I've been trying to work out, for ages, why I found the cinematography of Independence Day vaguely disatisfying - those 15-mile wide ships just never looked quite right to me. Last night we watched the DVD (well, Ken watched it: I just looked up for the 8 minutes of extra footage that's dotted about the film - and which incidentally makes the whole thing make much more sense. Why the hell were they cut in the first place? It really really annoys me when that's done. Like the footage that was cut from the end of The Abyss. Without those essential few minutes of controlled tidal waves/alien motivations the end of the film was the most awful anti-climax, and trite with it. [growl])

Anyway - ID4... I finally worked out what was bothering me. These ships are supposed to be fifteen miles across and therefore must be a considerable distance above the cities - yet both they and the buildings are perfectly in focus at the same time. Now, maybe your eyes work differently to mine, but I can't focus on something that's several hundred feet above me, and something that's several miles above me, at the same time. One or other of them is out of focus. So in the film the ships look as though they're hovering just above the rooftops - which kind of detracts from their hugeness, for me...

I have to say I'm incredibly impressed with the sheer quality of DVD as opposed to tape, even on our old TV. The clarity is astonishing, and the colours practically sparkle. [sigh] It's going to cost a fortune to replace all our videos...

Onna has drawn the most gorgeous illustration of Hijau and Zha'haarak, from the AC, for me - it's so tender, so loving... It captures their whole relationship. And (thanks onna!) I'll post it in the next chapter...

OK Talon....

Just don't get too carried away - there are those of us waiting for stories, you know.... >;-D

Found some cracking funnies, too, real medical records apparently...

The patient has been depressed ever since she began seeing me in 1983.
Patient was released to outpatient department without dressing.
The patient is tearful and crying constantly. She also appears to be depressed.
Healthy appearing decrepit 69 year-old male, mentally alert but forgetful.
The patient refused an autopsy.
The patient has no past history of suicides.
The patient expired on the floor uneventfully.
Patient has left his white blood cells at another hospital.
The patient's past medical history has been remarkably insignificant with only a 40 pound weight gain in the past three days.
She slipped on the ice and apparently her legs went in separate directions in early December.
The patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch.
The patient was in his usual state of good health until his airplane ran out of gas and crashed.
She is numb from her toes down.
While in the ER, she was examined, X-rated and sent home.
The skin was moist and dry.
Occasional, constant, infrequent headaches.
Patient was alert and unresponsive.
When she fainted, her eyes rolled around the room.

And my favourite -

Discharge status: Alive but without permission.

[disgusted snarl] What a bloody waste of a day!

I was supposed to be at a lunchtime InterLETs meeting, discussing my setting up a website for them. Instead, I spent the last 12 hours alternating between shivering in bed and throwing up in the bathroom. Gods know what I've had but it does not rank highly on my 'Fun Things to Do on a Sunday' list...

Still feel dreadful, but the headache's now bearable and I've managed a bowl of soup. Hopefully that's the worst of it over.

And Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves is on BBC1 - always good for a laugh (Dover to Nottingham via Hadrian's wall in less than a day on horseback? On Pegasus, perhaps...) With the added bonus of the luscious Alan Rickman, of course...

Onna, re the bathing chamber: there is tiling, but it's not ceramic, it's soft and gives very slightly. The room itself is in shades of pastel blue, soft golds and pale sandy yellows.

Is this what happens when I write about the intestinal problems of grittigs?

On the subject of muse kicks....

It's what we call music. Ken's fault, really - once he realised I just can't work without music, he joked that the sounds I surround myself with when writing are literally 'muse kicks' (to get my arse in gear)...

Heh - so maybe those quiz results did have something going for them after all.... >;-D

*lassooed on onna's blog...*

Next pic, started today - Hijau & Zha'haarak in the bathing pool. Okay, Joules, are the bathing pools round, oval or what? I just want to have a suggestion of a rim behind them, that's all.

[blink blink squeak!!] *momentary wide-eyed speechlessness...* Um... wow?...

[attempts to pull self together...] OK... probably sounds weird but I always saw the family's pool as wide figure-of-eight shaped, one circle bigger that the other, the deepest parts in the circle bits, shallower where those bits join together (you can tell I'm not much cop at geometry, can't you!) Although I say pools, it's really only one, although because of the shape and differing water depths it gives the impression of two separate pools. And they are pretty big, big enough for the brats to swim in, and about 5 foot deep in the centre of the bigger pool. The edges are gently rounded and made of a soft, slightly padded waterproof material so lying back on them is quite comfortable. Does that help?

As to the colour of Hijau's mane (and tail)... I've never seen I Love Lucy (umm, or maybe I did once - in black and white...) It's an unreal colour, somewhere between young carrots, autumn maple leaves, and conflagration red! Tch - I can see it clearly in my head but don't have any definitive way of describing it. I've called it 'flame-bright', which is about the best I can come up with - it's like a beacon, you're almost afraid to touch it in case it burns you. (And I'm sure poetic descriptions are no use at all! Sorry... >;-D )

I'll see if I can come up with anything more useful. In the meantime.... Can't really express how chuffed I am.... [beaming dopy grin]

Oh, and I'll add sporks too - I was really enjoying Strange Bedfellows... Perhaps you could pass them on for me? I don't seem to get much response to comments I make on list - either I'm phrasing things wrongly or people just aren't interested in my opinion/feedback. [shrugs] Not a problem, though it does tend to put me off commenting in the first place!

One of the few good things about increasingly modern technology is that the more complex it becomes, the easier it is to set up. The DVD was essentially literally plug and play (though it did take me a couple of minutes to work out which scart plug to remove from which socket and untangle the spaghetti junction of dusty cabling behind the TV).
Now Kai ->
is watching his Cats and Dogs DVD (and Ken is falling asleep with Kai on his lap)...

At the moment the VCR is unplugged, but I think there might be a way to feed the VCR through the digital blackbox and have both operational at the same time - I'll have to check later when I can see the back of the equipment without a torch! That being said, Ken really wants the VCR upstairs anyway, so when he can't sleep for the interferon he can watch videos without disturbing me when I'm working late... heh, we'll sort something out...

In the meantime, the picture quality is wonderful, even on our old TV...

Oh, I'd forgotten how much I love Scott Walker sings Jacques Brel!! Broom had the LP - it's the one thing I've always regretted not taking with me when I left him. (I hasten to add that I only took my own possessions with me when I left, nice person that I am... Or should that read gullible idiot?)

My own CD copy arrived this morning, along with the DVD player I ordered from Amazon.co.uk (Yay! Been collecting DVDs against the day we could afford to treat ourselves (Yule-pressie type money) - now we can watch them!) Excellent value too - Pioneer multi-region, special offer £120 and no p&p...

But the album... Scott Walker's voice is phenomenal, and I still know all the words, even after fifteen years and a lifetime's worth of new and far more pleasant experiences. There's nothing quite like sitting at the computer, headphones on, favourite music filling the world. It's not exactly helping me finish Snapshots 3 mind you, but what the hell...

It's Kai's school Xmas Fayre at 11am and I really don't feel up to it... Wonder if he'll mind if we don't go?

Right - that's the Ancillary Family pic inked scanned and coloured. It's not too bad - Vinas has come out just fine, and Tane and Dari are cute. Kyuri's not so good, though...

But I'm too tired to post it tonight. Should manage tomorrow morning: for now I can't keep my eyes open - again: this is beyond a joke - so I'm actually taking an early night.

Before I go: on the subject of dragons... This particular cross-breed should be pretty self-sufficient, as well as easily trained: they make excellent watch-dragons, and are also fun to ride. They'll eat just about any kind of flesh, and even insects and vegetation in a crisis (though it doesn't do their digestive systems any good). The main problem is space: they do grow very big, and quite quickly too, reaching full size in about five years. You also need to keep them away from inflammable liquids - they do breathe fire, after all.
Like the average cat they'll each choose where they want to sleep, and have favourite places to sprawl. The main thing is not to spoil them, as they can and will take over your home if you let them!

Oh, and keep them away from jewellers' shops...

The tablet - at the moment I'm still drawing/inking/scanning/colouring in PhotoShop, the latter using the pen, which I like. It has a couple of quirks, though, like not making big solid circles with the pencil tool (I have to use the very unstable wireless mouse). I'm hoping to scan in the pencil drawing of Yuuzen and finish it off just with the tablet, though: will see how it goes...

No onna pic - guess you're busy. Never mind - fingers crossed for tomorrow?

There's nothing like a plate of chilli con carne on a cold winter's evening...

I remember the first one I ever cooked. It was my first year at Uni, and I had no idea how to cook - anything. So I bought myself a 'beginners' cookery book and decided I'd make chilli for a friend.

Only, there was a misprint in the book.

The recipe said two and a half tablespoons of chilli powder...

I thought at the time that seemed like rather a lot, so I halved the amount. Not that it made much difference, of course. It was 24 hours before we could actually taste anything again...

My cooking has improved a bit since!

Kai seems to be developing a juvenile version of my sense of humour. Gods help us all! >;-D

Tch' - taken ten minutes to login - the whole world must be blogging...

More fun and games with BusinessServe. The subscription for my Haadri site runs out on the 18^th of December: yesterday we had a call from one Jimmy - our 'personal account manager' at BS - requesting next year's sub (he asked to speak to Ken: thinking it might be about the problems we're still having with the forms on the WordWrights site I handed the phone over...)

Ken asked him to ring back later, after we'd checked the paperwork. And he did, about 30 minutes later as opposed to the 2 hours he'd agreed. And I spoke to him... [evil grin]

The upshot was he would send me the reminder and invoice (one due 60 days and the other 30 days before payment is due) we're supposed to have already received in the post (and which arrived this morning, both dated the 18^th November... Hn. Well, I'll let it pass this once...) and he will ring me on the 15^th of December, at which time I will give him the payment details for the domain - although I've now read BS's payment section of their terms and conditions, where it does say they require payment in advance and within 14 days of the invoice. So, since the only invoice I've received is dated the 18^th of November, I'll pay it on the 29^th. That's close enough to the actual renewal date to make me feel less annoyed about the whole thing...

I'm recording this here - with a further note that Carol was listening in to the conversation and will confirm my side of it - because I have the sneaking suspicion that Haadri will disappear in the next few days, because I haven't paid next year's sub. Watch for fireworks if that happens...

The sooner we can leave BS the better, in my opinion. I'm sick of the haphazard site accessibility problems we have, especially at weekends, and the intermittent problems we're still having with email. Unfortunately Haadri has to stay with them until Dec 2003 (it's a minimum 2 year contract) - but Wordwrights is up in April. So, does anyone have any information about Pro Web Hosting? How good are they? Do they allow adult material on their hosted sites (they offer password protection, so, as Carol pointed out, it's quite possible that they do...)?

On a more fun note...

I've almost finished the Ancillary Family Portrait. Finally settled on Vinas, Tane and Dari, Kyuri, Merica and Jagung, Zh'leet, Gh'veen (yes, I know I killed him off...) Pirum and Peyaru. Going to try to post it at the weekend - along with the next bit of Silk and Leather if I can get it finished...

Busy day!

Kai to school in Carol's car - then she helped me do a mammoth Sainsbury's shop: trays of cat-food tins, dog-food tins, human-food tins... the pantry's stocked again and the animals can eat for the next three months. It's wonderful what you can do with a car...

Then she drove us to Trowbridge. I've never been to Trowbridge - it's a great little place, with a fantastic coffee shop (Coffee Central, in White Hart Yard if you ever find yourself there). Baguettes and sandwiches - your own choice of fillings (had roast chicken with diced tomato and cucumber) - and great cakes. But it was the drink that I particularly enjoyed - a whackin' great mug of rich hot chocolate topped with whipped cream and tiny marshmallows: Devon would have been in heaven!

Arrived back to find the slightly amended pic from onna - Radittsu and Zha'haabron... It's... Hn... Gorgeous? Droolworthy? So beautiful... I'm absolutely entranced...

And I will share it with everyone - assuming onna doesn't object - in an upcoming chapter of the Alliance Chronicles...

One of the tapes Adrian burned for me is a Turkish album, Sezen Aksu's Gülümse: I listened to it in Winchester and really liked it - to some extent because it reminds me of the soundtrack to Lexx, of all things. I'm sure Marty Simon was influenced by modern Turkish music, if only subliminally - some of his themes are just too similar to be coincidence...

Carol had some truly wonderful funnies posted to her Alias Smith and Jones list...

In case you need proof that the human race is doomed because of stupidity, here are some actual label instructions on consumer goods....

On a Sears hairdryer: Do not use while sleeping. (and that's the only time I have to work on my hair...)
On a bag of Fritos: ..You could be a winner! No purchase necessary. details inside. (the shoplifter special?)
On a bar of Dial soap: "Directions: Use like regular soap." (and that would be how???....)
On some Swanson frozen dinners: "Serving suggestion: Defrost." (but it's "just" a suggestion).
On Tesco's Tiramisu dessert (printed on bottom): "Do not turn upside down."(well...duh, a bit late, huh!)
On Marks & Spencer Bread Pudding:"Product will be hot after heating." (...and you thought????...)
On Boot's Children Cough Medicine:"Do not drive a car or operate machinery after taking this medication." (We could do a lot to reduce the rate of construction accidents if we could just get those 5-year-olds with head-colds off those forklifts.)
On Nytol Sleep Aid: "Warning: May cause drowsiness." (and...I'm taking this because???....)
On most brands of Christmas lights: "For indoor or outdoor use only." (as opposed to...what?) [That one just cracked me up....]
On a Japanese food processor: "Not to be used for the other use." (now, somebody out there, help me on this. I'm a bit curious.) [Ditto...]
On Sainsbury's peanuts: "Warning: contains nuts." (talk about a news flash!)
On an American Airlines packet of nuts: "Instructions: Open packet, eat nuts." (Step 3: maybe, uh...fly Delta?)
On a child's superman costume: "Wearing of this garment does not enable you to fly." (I don't blame the company. I blame the parents for this one.)
On a Swedish chainsaw:"Do not attempt to stop chain with your hands or genitals." (...was there a lot of this happening somewhere?)

[falls off chair in hysterics...]

The song referred to below, I'm reliably informed - thanks Carol! - is Greg Lake's I believe in Father Christmas...

I'm going to bed now. Honest.

What a fantastic day!

Carol and I took Kai into town in the afternoon, to the funfair on Castle Park - where Carol and I spent some time charging around in dodgems (with Kai shrieking happily in first Carol's then mine's) pretending to be Bodie and Doyle - then a wander around The Galleries at Broadmead, then down to the Centre and waterfront to the fayre and funfair... Kai on the lovely old carousel and a couple of goes on a ride he particularly likes (different vehicles on a track that goes round and uphill then down and round again). Then I found us the ideal place to stand and we... uh.... 'endured' 45 minutes (in a light drizzle) of Chesney Hawkes (who?) and Darius (whowho?) until it was time to switch on the city's Xmas lights. And then what we'd gone into town for - the firework display...

Oh, it was beautiful - best I've ever seen - ten minutes solid to the accompaniment of first, one of my favourite Xmas songs to which I can never remember the name, and secondly Wizzard's 'I wish it could be Xmas every day'..... Showers, curly-wurlies, starbursts, candles, massive multi-coloured multi-level fizzbangs that lit up the whole sky... Glorious... There were even soft and fluffy rockets! [*sigh* I'm now a firework...] Well worth waiting for. Kai practically floated back to the bus stop, and it was a while before I could stop grinning. Lutra likes shiny sparklies - so do I, but on a slightly larger scale... >;-D

Now I should be in bed - I can barely keep my eyes open. But it's been such a great day (and I managed to finish my drawing of Yuuzen - and do another couple of sections of my Purgatory session with RB - while we watched New Professionals videos tonight) that I thought I'd update here while having a quick listen to the CDs Adrian burned for me - all my old and now incredibly rare Tyrannosaurus Rex LPs and my copy of Henske and Yester's Farewell Aldebaran. I'd forgotten how good some of these are: Wind Cheetah, Throat of Winter, Pilgrim's Tale, Nijinsky Hind, not to mention Futuristic Dragon and the wholly amazing Children of Rarn mini-album plus illustrated booklet... As for Farewell Aldebaran - what can I say about it...? My favourite album of all time? Very very strange? Mind-blowingly inspirational? I'm going to encode the whole thing to mp3, so if anyone would like a couple of tracks - purely for review purposes of course - let me know!

Bleurgh.... tired, legs aching from standing for hours, knee swollen where I whacked it against the side of the dodgem when I was side-swiped, eyes stinging from lack of sleep, ears ringing from thunderclapping fizzbangs - I've had a a fabulous day, but I really ought to think about getting to bed. Think being the operative word...

[lassooed on onna's blog]

Yep, you will see it first! Just couldn't keep it quiet for long, Joules. Been planning this one for a quite a while now and finally got the 'nudge' to begin it. Hope it comes out okay. It is giving me fits already. Been wanting to do something for you for some time now and I know I cannot yet draw all the twisting bodies and limbs in the lemony goodness of Recreation, as much as I want to.

[..... speechless.... *glomp*.....]

[*yawn*...] The sofa is not the most comfortable place to sleep, but the 45 minute doze should give me the energy to stay awake - Carol's on her way...
Didn't stop today; my legs are still aching. Managed to get a lot done, though, so it was worth it.

*lassooed on onna's blog*

Have lightly sketched out a new drawing, using the Manga Pose Resource Book as reference. Potentially a Raddittzu/Zha'haabron but I cannot draw either worth a damn. Gonna have to pull out my official manga and look at both charas closely to see what their distinctions are. I specifically look at the head and hair from different angles to attempt to understand the shapes. If I cannot get these charas down I might have to revert to Hijau/Zha'haarak, since they are original charas.

!!!? Uh... wow! I'm honoured! Do I get to see them first? >;-D

Carol has now arrived. I'm off to prepare nibbles and things before we settle down to some videos...

256 + 3 pending...

Zone Membership now at 253 with 2 pending. Better start drawing that 'Ancilliary Family' portrait! (Heh, everyone gets to see what Vinas looks like!)

The rain's stopped, the sky is bright and cold, the winds capricious - a day for leaving the ground far behind in favour of silver-lining the clouds. Time to let the alter-ego out to play, methinks...

[sigh] Took myself off to bed at 12.30, thinking - 'Early night! Catch up on some comatosity!'

Heh. Woke at 4.30 (am that is) and couldn't get back to sleep...

It's a horrible morning too, blowing a gale and pissing with rain... Local flooding (again) and maybe thunderstorms this afternoon...

On the fire-fighters strike: apparently it was a quiet night - emergency-wise - in this area anyway, with the armed forces and Green Goddesses coping, and only three deaths (heh - 'only'...). The worst aspect of the whole thing is the bloody idiots who make hoax calls, diverting absolutely minimal resources away from places where they're needed. It's difficult not to wish that the people who make such calls end up in the same situation...

I wonder if the rain is actually helping? I suppose with everything so wet 'casual' fires stand less of a chance of taking hold...

Heh - efficient or what? Both chapters coded/uploaded, links opened and the update sent...

Well, that's Lutra's Transition pt 1 beta-ed and ready for coding, and I've just finished Aftermath, my next. Lutra needs to read it, to check Mahrayne's in character - then it's a bumper code/upload session tomorrow. These two chapters end this sequence: time for a new one!

But probably not until Lutra gets back from holiday. In the meantime I'm hoping to finish Transposition (well, I can hope, can't I?) and get some drawing done. Which reminds me - like the latest pics, onna! The coloured V-MS has come out very well, and I really like the style of the V-G one. Can't wait to see it coloured.

Ah - Lutra's here...

First - many thanks to everyone who has expressed good wishes (and sent good 'fluences) for Ken, we really appreciate it.

Kai has said he wants a lockable diary for Yule, so I went looking for one. Heh! Debenhams will order a very nice leather one for us - £22 for the small one, £27 for the large. For an eight year old? I don't think so... But there were no others to be had for love not money. Eventually I ended up in Claires (essentially an accessory shop for girly-girls, all pretty sparkly pinks and fluffy purples and shiny blues - you'd love the place Lutra! *sigh* The things I do for bratling...) where I found a denim-bound lockable journal. OK, it says 'hip' in purple and has has a pink/yellow/purple star on the front, but it was only £5, and since it's most likely to get dropped and juice spilt on it and hell kicked out of it I really didn't want to spend too much. It doesn't look terribly feminine, and he won't be taking it to school, so I hope it'll do him for now. If he really gets into the journal-writing habit we'll get him something a little more special next year.

Woolworths were doing a special offer on DVDs, buy one, get one free. Ended up with four, including The Mummy Returns (special double disc edition with an interview with the delectable Mr Johnson). Not bad, ne?

So all in all yesterday went surprisingly well: managed to find what I was looking for for five people! (Actually, well isn't quite the right word - more like a miracle...) And getting in early meant I avoided the lunchtime crowds.

A recommendation: if you can get hold of it, try Rachel's Organic Wholemilk bio-live Yoghurt with Maple Syrup. Just had some with sliced banana - wonderful... (yes, I do occasionally eat things other than rare meat!)

Now if only I could persuade myself to sleep in sessions of more than 3 hours at a time...

Just time to update before I take Kai to school...

It's amazing how quickly one can adjust if one has to. We have discovered:

The interferon injections make Ken feel like death warmed up. Knowing this - and that it takes a couple of hours for the effects to kick in - he can time them so he's suffering most when he has nothing vital to do.
The ribavirin makes him feel rough, but not as bad as the interferon.
He's thirsty all the time - drinking twice the amount of (filtered) water as before.
He can't sleep properly - came down to watch something mindless on TV as I went to bed at 3.15...

As for me - I seem to be functioning perfectly happily on between 3 and 5 hours sleep, at least for the moment. Even woke up before the 7am alarm!

The weekend went well: another substantial chunk of the Daemon-Devon story written with Reshenna on AIM, and Lutra and I sorted out our next two AC chapters (amongst other things! >;-D ) We should be able to get those posted before Lutra goes on holiday (but no promises).

Ken to see his GP this morning, and I'm off into town present-shopping (groan). But GoodTwin is coming over for a long weekend on Friday - can't wait! (Think I might be able to get some drawing done?)

Thanks onna. Ken groaned thanks too...

Poor Ken...

Tetanus injection this morning, followed by the dentist, then the hospital this afternoon for his first injection...

I now have half a shelf of the fridge full of packs of syringes of interferon, and Ken has to take three 200mg ribavirin capsules twice a day. For the next 48 weeks. And drink a lot of water as it helps to distribute the medication around the body. He has to go back every month for more medication and a check up. And since no-one knows what effect the drugs would have on unborn children, the consultant suggested using two forms of contraceptive to avoid any risk of conception.

Not that that's terribly likely to happen anyway. He's curled up on the sofa, bloodshot eyes streaming, feeling like he has a bad dose of flu, temperature and all, and the only thing he can take is paracetemol. The hospital said these initial flu-like symptoms normally improve a bit after 2-3 weeks. Normally...

Heh - well, looks like my ultra-late nights are out for the foreseeable future: Ken certainly can't take Kai to school feeling like that, and he's not going to feel like doing anything around the house for a while. That being said I'm used to very little sleep, so should still be able to keep going to some extent.

Another of Kai's milk teeth came out tonight, while he was eating a sausage. He was delighted - he spent £6 on a beyblade recently and his piggy bank is down to its last few pennies. Putting it under his pillow when I took him up to bed, he frowned up at me and said, "Who really puts the £1 under the pillow? It could be you, couldn't it, creeping up the stairs in the middle of the night..." To which I answered, "Do I look like a tooth fairy?" [Don't answer that!] It's kept him happy for the moment, but I suppose next time I'll have to tell him the truth...

I'm five pages into the next AC chapter, Converse - I should be able to post it tonight.

Oh, the kawaii-ness of it all!!

It's Parents' Evening at Kai's school (a mile-long haul up the hill to his school and another back down afterwards after already having done it once when collecting him, all for a five minute chat with his teacher about how he's doing. It's at times like this I really miss the car...). On the way back from picking him up I asked him if he had any problems, anything he wanted me to ask Mr Reece... he goes kind of shy and says, well, yes, there is something that's bothering him...
Turns out there's a group of girls who've been making him nervous in the playground. Not in a nasty way - he's been right through school with them, knows most of them - but they've been looking at him... And he's noticed the glances. And he'd like to talk to them, but he doesn't know what to say!

[Mother fights back soppy grin...] Well, we had a little chat about how males and females get together, like Ken and I, and live together and have children and that's how the human race continues, and how girls often start noticing boys before vice versa and it can be a bit awkward because neither of them knows quite what to say or where the feelings come from, but that's OK, and that just to smile and say hello is fine to start off with, and things will get easier as he gets older and learns more about people - but showing off is a no-no. And he nods solemnly and then cheers up, having got it off his chest, and the conversation moves to how his swimming lesson went today...

My bratling is growing up! >8-D

onna - thank you! The mp3 has downloaded just fine...

I think what I particularly like about Weird Al's.... cover versions? mutations?... is that they're subtle. They sound so much like the real thing that you have to be on the ball to catch the subversiveness of them. I could play any of them to my parents and they just wouldn't realise there was anything... unusual about them at all... I like that. Kind of separates the alert and perverse from the ordinary and humdrum...

And Amish Paradise is still my all time favourite (heh, I really like the original too!) and if anyone can ever point me in the direction of an mp3 download I would be sooooo grateful....

And a tease.... Readers following the Alliance Chronicles either already know or have worked out that in order to keep the chronology straight Lutra and I have to work quite closely together and share plots and characters (we actually have a Timeline that we work to fairly closely because it's the only way to keep this monster under any sort of control). This results in us emailing/ICQing sections of the stories to each other to check they're all consistent - which of course means we know each others' plots. However, until the chapters are written we don't know exactly how the story is going to read.

Tonight Lutra emailed me part of one of her forthcoming chapters... Now, I know the story. I know what happens, and to whom, and when. I know the outcome. And then I read this....

I got a chill up my spine, goosebumps down my arms and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. It's one of the most effective pieces of fanfic prose I've ever read. It's tiny, and yet it alters everything. It's wonderful....

And I'm afraid you're going to have to wait to read it. Something this good has to have a proper build-up, and we've already sorted out how this is going to happen.
Please be patient. You'll be able to read it soon.

Re: Kai's loo sign... GoodTwin says:

Retaliate, of course! After all, there are bushes outside for the men...

Well, I tried. And to start with it was fine - Kai said he was happy with bushes (although I should add that that dates back to when he was a lot younger, and when he was in a mood he used to say he'd go and sleep in the bushes with the spiders... Strange child. Then again, being mine, could I expect anything else...?) Then he changed his mind and it descended into a 'mine's bigger than yours' argument (signs, that is). And finally, as I went into the bathroom, he shouted after me, "That's the men's, woman!" [*blink blink growl* Cheeky little sod... Who's the alpha in this family anyway?]

Well, I never thought I'd say it of a Disney film, but I really enjoyed Lilo and Stitch. I like the realism of the nationalities they seem to be employing these days, and the film was nowhere near as cutesy and twee as it could have been. The aliens were great - not too frightening for bratlings - and there was enough humour to appeal to the adults (I liked the 'sunburnt man with ice-cream' running gag, and the reference to earth as being a game reserve in Area 51 was priceless! And how does "Oh good, my dog found the chainsaw" strike you as a classic quote?) I actually think I enjoyed it more than Kai: it's a strong contender for the list of 'must-buy' dvds. The only thing I didn't enjoy was the soundtrack - I really don't like Elvis...

Kai's back to school tomorrow - with his Metal Draciel beyblade.

Strange day again. Spent most of it zombified through tiredness, and I am going to have an early night tonight - finish my glass of Soave, check the regular art sites and then close down. One of the things I like about winter is it's usually still dark outside when I go to bed: the last three days it's been light outside and the birds have been singing..

Ken goes to the hospital on Thursday (right after his dental appointment!) to get his medication instructions. I've been reminding myself of all the foods that are good for the liver - unfortunately all things I can't stand, olives, olive oil, dark green vegetables... Still, I don't have to eat them! And talking of hospitals, I had yet another changed appointment letter yesterday...

This dates back to the summer and the abscess I had. They lanced it (without anaesthetic), put me on immensely strong antibiotics and it eventually cleared up, but I was also advised to have a mammogram (which I did and to my amazement it was completely painless - and I didn't even have to remove my ring, which is just as well, because I can't...) I was supposed to go for a follow-up appointment in September: a week before it the hospital rang to remind me. At which point I'd had the results, which were all clear, and the abscess had completely gone, so I said I'd rather it went to someone who needed it and to cancel. The voice on the other end warned me that that was my decision, if it came back I'd have to start from scratch with treatment again, which I OKed.

Two weeks later I had a letter saying they'd had to re-schedule my appointment (to the 30^th of November if I remember rightly). I was going to ring to point out I'd cancelled - when another letter arrived re-scheduling it for the 6^th of December. Then yeserday another letter arrived, re-scheduling it yet again, to the 29^th of November...

Sod's Law really. If I wanted an appointment I'd probably have to wait a year...

Managed to post Shield tonight - ye gods that was not an easy chapter to write! But thank you onna, GoodTwin and Lutra, for the wonderful feedback - it does help, you know!

[shakes head] Kai has stuck a 'men' toilet sign on the outside of the bathroom door. Must ask him tomorrow what he thinks I'm supposed to do!

[*yawn*...] Well, got quite a bit done last night (on AIM with Reshenna - Purgatory material) and finally got to bed a little after 6.30 am. Quyn's barking woke me up at 1.45 pm: a friend who needed internet access for an hour or so (and who was supposed to have turned up about 10.30) had arrived... As a result I didn't get onto my computer til 5.30pm. [*growl*]

I have to get something written tonight or the day will have been completely wasted. The problem is, what? The next Transposition chapter? Next AC? The next Silk and Leather? Timeslipping? Original fic?...

I'm trying to do too much, I think...

Still tired. Didn't manage an early night (now there's a surprise...): dived into chat with the other geese and discussed forthcoming Purgatory chapters/plot instead. Today's been a sleepy sort of day, with not a lot being accomplished. Yet, anyway...

It's the nearest weekend to Guy Fawkes Night, and there are fizzbangs going off all over the city - uh, country. Our next door neighbours had a firework party (sounded like an invasion) and no-doubt the city will stink of gunpowder tomorrow. I always substitute Thatcher or Major for Fawkes, in my mind. Much more appropriate...

Had a terrific day. Wendy - my oldest friend, we were at college together - came to visit. It was wonderful to catch up on the news, and Kai is very fond of her. (Told me it wasn't fair I'd talked to her all day, he wanted a turn too... Ended up battling in the beyblade stadium. Kai won overall, of course, but Wendy did win a couple of matches.)

I'm very tired tonight. It's been a hectic week, and I really need a decent sleep. Might even try for an early night... [heh, that'll be the day...]

[snarl] At 2.10 am, in the middle of an ICQ discussion with Lutra about forthcoming AC chapters, I lose my broadband connection….

I ring up BlueYonder (at least they have tech support 24/7) to get a recorded message announcing broadband loss of connectivity from 2am until 6am for essential maintenance in Bristol, Liverpool and Edinburgh.

Bloody cheek! Don't these people appreciate that we're global now? I need a 24/7 connection (on this planet anyway) - I don't want to be offline for four bloody hours!!

Thanks gods I have dial-up backup. Not that I feel inclined to have to pay extra for using it, but at least I can check email every 30 minutes or so, even if I can't answer it.

[stalks off, growling…]

Thanks for the comments, onna!

I have to admit I am pleased with the way Transposition has turned/is turning out (except maybe for Garak's behaviour in that first lemon. But even that is permissible, I feel, given that Garak is a creature of so many parts...). I was determined to stay in character for this series - certainly for the ST characters, and paying particular attention to their speech patterns - so I actually did a fair bit of research (as in watching a variety of episodes, and scouring the excellent Star Trek.com along with other sites for information). Most enjoyable.

Your comments about Garak are interesting. I saw him as older, yes, and possibly less active, sexually, than a younger being - but certainly not past it. While researching his character, I came across Andrew Robinson's book - A Stitch in Time - and his own comments about Garak were fascinating: -

A man after my own heart! This certainly added an extra layer of fascination - for me - in writing Garak in the series. And I like him. He's complex and intriguing. I don't think I've managed to get that across yet, or even if I have time to do so before the series' end, but I'll try...

I must add my thanks to Sue, for feedback, information and finding the right websites for me! Saved me a lot of time and made a big difference to the end product.

I'm still trying to get a copy of it. [edit: I have now!] Sue lent me hers, but after borrowing it for nearly a year and not finding time to read it I gave it back. That being said, I could find time to read my own copy, which I could bend and break, make notes in and turn down corners - but Sue, quite rightly, treats her books with care: most of them look as though they haven't been opened, and I most certainly wouldn't dream of damaging them. I admire people like that. My lifestyle and reading habits just don't support it! >;-D Back

Joyful New Year
And bright blessings upon us all...