Ack! Lungs! Work with me here!

Bronchitis equals no fun. Big unsmiley face. I haven't drawn a deep breath in two weeks. Oxygen, how I miss thee!

I haven't been able to work out since I got this (inability to breathe plus strenuous activity equals BAD COMBINATION) and I'm getting twitchy. Twitch. Twitch. I had a weight goal for the end of the year but now I'm not sure I'm going to meet it.

DON'T YOU FEEL SORRY FOR ME?!

::g:: Okay, okay. Enough. I see the frowny faces.

The election occupies my time. I made some phone calls over the weekend and I'm scheduled to go up to Pennsylvania this coming weekend, to do…whatever bayleaf tells me to do. ::g:: One of the happier things in my life – to do what bayleaf tells me. I'm even getting up at ass o'clock in the morning!

Other happy things: Boys tonight! Sam and Dean tonight! New stories from rei_c! New Orleans in (one, two, three, four, five…) ten more days!

God. I am so friggin' high. But it's legit! I have bronchitis! I'm on meds! That perhaps contain codeine! ::g::

I went back to work today, after three days out. Having coughed up one lung, I am holding on to the other by my fingertips. But I once again count myself among the living (at least for the moment), so things are looking up. Still, I'm glad it's Friday.

So many things whirling in my brain. Palin! Boys! OTW! ::sigh:: But I have the attention span of a gnat. A very small gnat. On codeine! Perhaps tomorrow I will attempt coherency.

In the meantime…rivkat wrote me a wonderful, sorrowful SPN drabble. It will make your heart ache in the very best way.

I suck at web research. Is there a primer out there or something? (Of course, I sucked at Lexis Nexis research as well – perhaps the notion of the effective use of keywords is beyond me.)

It seems obligatory to put the words Paul and Newman in a sentence today. He was a cool guy and seemed like a good man. My mother was a big fan – I remember when we were little (we being me, my brother, and my sister) we got her a big ass wall poster for one of her birthdays, because she was so crazy about the man.

I liked him. He made some terrific movies. His name on a marquee didn't guarantee my interest but it was enough to make me stop and smell the synopsis. He did a lot of stuff that interested me. I liked Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (although – confession – I went because I had a major crush on Katherine Ross). Loved The Sting. My favorites were older though – The Long, Hot Summer – wonderful, chew the scenery, steamy delight. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – although given the Tennessee Williams connection, that was a given. Cool Hand Luke. ::g:: It strikes me – put him in the South and I lapped it up like cream.

Anyway – he made good movies and organic cookies. And he had beautiful, blue eyes. And wouldn't that have annoyed the hell out of him. ::g::

I feel just crappy enough not to have any interest in anything and just good enough to be bored. It is an annoying conundrum.

Three more weeks to winchestercon – I will be there Friday and Saturday. Not staying at the hotel but hanging out most of the day. There are people I want to see (brynwulf!) and people I'm hoping to meet, and people before whom I may find myself genuflecting. Watch me carefully not mention them by name – it makes the stalking so…blatant.

Then that Sunday morning I fly out to New Orleans and give up thinking for five days. There will be coffee with chicory and way, way, way too many beignets. Pralines. Red beans and rice and crawfish étouffée. Music. And more music. A bed and breakfast with a swimming pool and a stack of books, and twenty-four hours in every day, during which I intend to be very, very nice to myself.

( Spoilers: SPN 4.02 )

( And then there was Criminal Minds 4.01… )

Thank god it's the weekend. I'm coming down with something again – scratchy throat, cough, stuffed up nose. It is my sincerest hope that I will not even have to get out of bed tomorrow.

It is beautiful here today. Bloody, fucking gorgeous. Here's to autumn coming in on little cat's paws.

I am working on work and OTW projects today, trying to get some due and overdue things off my work and fannish desks. Working tomorrow as well. Such a shame, with it being as gorgeous as it is, but I'm wearing my responsible hat this weekend, though it's a bit tight around the ears.

I went to the market this morning and bought pears and brie for dinner. This is my reward for a hard day's work. I also bought corn meal for polenta (to go with the mesquite honey I brought back last week), and red miso, scallions, tofu, and peas, as I've craving another big bowl of miso ever since L and I had some on her birthday (along with sushi to fucking die for). Soon it will be time to make a big pot of ratatouille, first of the new season.

Mad, mad, mad lesbian crush going on here. I've decided to have Rachel Maddow's babies. I mean, if she wants babies. If not, scads of hot lesbian sex will do. I don't think her partner would mind, do you?

::sigh:: Back to budgets.

♥♥♥_♥^♥♥Sam and Dean♥♥♥_♥^♥♥

::goes back to researching...stuff::

::g::

There is a "cold front" moving into the region – which means temps in the seventies for the next couple of days. W00t! Can autumn be far behind? (BTW, the only answer I'm willing to accept here is "no.")

Tonight! Sam and Dean! Tonight! YAY, MY BOYS ARE BACK! I am spoiled on one big thing but not on anything else, and I am looking forward to watching with much glee. I shall have company (and sanj, I promise NOT to spoil you!) so there will be fangirl squeeing on commercial breaks, and general yay-ness that MY SHOW IS BACK!

I watched the season three Criminal Minds finale last night and oh my god. OMG. Someone should feel free to spoil me in comments if they know about, y'know. ::g::

(::g:: Yes. You will never see the OMG SPOIL ME AND YOU ARE DEAD post in this LJ.)

Today is Tuesday. Do you know what that means? THAT MEANS IT IS ONLY TWO DAYS FROM THURSDAY! FROM NEW SAM AND DEAN! NEW DEAN AND SAM! ♥♥♥_♥^♥♥

::aerye melts into an anticipatory puddle of goo::

My season three Criminal Minds DVDs just arrived. \o/! bayleaf? You. Me. My television. Soon?

God. I haven't been to the gym in over a week (although I have a note from the teacher and all, Tucson being a significant commute to WSC). I'm jonesing for a good, hard workout. And a massage. Followed by a long, luscious lie-in. And…bon-bons. ::g:: Okay, okay, I'll stop now. But I must start back tomorrow night and spend some quality time getting good and sweaty.

In addition to writing, I read last week, and one of the books I finished was a book about New Orleans, The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square by Ned Sublette. It got good ratings on amazon.com (yes, yes, world domination for the win) and it was an interesting book, although it was not exactly what I expected. I thought it could have been better organized – or perhaps more accurately, the thematic structure of the book seemed to morph from a chronological history to music, which isn't what I was expecting, and until I could settle into that structure I found the going a bit rough. I think – had I realized that shift would occur – I might have chosen differently. Still, an interesting read.

And speaking of reading – another plug for Transformative Works and Cultures: it is a fannish box of chocolates!

I am sitting at my desk trying not to fall asleep – for reasons that don’t need exploring at this juncture I was traveling last night, and my Atlanta connection got all screwed up. Hence, this girl got to bed at about four o’clock this morning, and I sit before you (sort of, kind of, in a virtual way), bleary eyed and clutching a cup of coffee. I write this post purely in self-defense, as a way of keeping my eyes open until I can decently leave.

I've been at home for the last week, which meant confronting the Ghost of Dial Up Past, so needless to say I haven’t a clue what is going on in Live Journal Land. I do know that the first issue of Transformative Works and Cultures is up (W00t!), and that the issue contains an article on Wincest, and that the article contains a reference to one of my favorite stories/writers, "L'oiseau de feu" by rei_c. These are all things that delight me.

There is either a rumor or a confirmed report that JA and JP are living together. Either way, this also delights me.

The new season of SPN starts this Thursday. Delighted is perhaps too small a word for this.

I finished the long delayed editing on the Pros story (although I need to do one more careful read through this coming weekend before I email it off again). This no doubt delights my editor.

I have a draft for a time stamp on “The Fall and Rise”, although perhaps sadly, it is about Stevie and Denzel, and not Sam and Dean.

I have a draft for a post-“original” ending to CotW story, which sadly, needs much work.

I read the second Dexter book. I must get my hands on the series.

Third season Criminal Minds should be here any day now.

I leave for New Orleans in 34 days.

I may have told the partners that I hate my job. Stayed tuned for unemployment developments.

To winchestercon or not to winchestercon -- that is the question.

It’s Friday!!

Okay, no, it’s Thursday, but since I’m taking the next four days off, it is my Friday! Dancing in the streets is in order!

( Cut, because I natter on endlessly about stuff. )

lipstickcat has posted pictures of the last few pages of the original script to "Call of the Wild", and it is an Aerye Perfect Ending. Seriously. There is nothing I would miss from the aired ending if I could have this one. Nothing. I adore the mirroring of both the pilot and "Burning Down the House", I adore Fraser wild and free (and yes, yes, alone, but Christ, we can fix that, easy peasy. If we want to fix that. Which some of us ::koff:: may not). And in exchange? Vecchio never has to run a fucking bowling alley – not that certain writers haven't done marvelous things with that – and Frannie doesn't have to become a baby making machine and – okay, Turnbull getting hit by a bus wasn't all bad but you get my point. I disliked more of the aired episode than I liked (is this where I admit that I rarely watch part two of CotW?), and I adore this one, enough to want to write a story about this ending. Maybe even a series. I see EPIC POSSIBILITIES in this ending. china_shop – couldn't this be like a ds_flashfiction challenge or something? ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I bring you a rec: Haagen Dazs Caramel Cone ice cream. Caramel ice cream and caramel caramel and chocolate covered waffle cone pieces. Nirvana.

And a warning: Allowing oneself even to contemplate quitting one's job and taking a year off is slippery slope-ish. I will not tell you of the travel I have planned (strictly in my head, of course) with a year of free time and nothing to do but amuse myself.

::eyes self sternly::

No biscuit. But it is fun. ::g::

I am considering blowing off the SPN con (except perhaps to come up for an evening to have dinner or something with one or two people I haven't seen in forever). With all of the squee about Vividcon and can_con this weekend, I am remembering how much I fail at prolonged periods of social interaction, even at a con when I know lots and lots of people. I mean, it's not like I don't like the idea of hanging out with people – it's just that my execution sucks so enormously. I lose points from the judges every time.

Speaking of Vividcon, I am reading much about the incest vid and I'm eager to see it. It sounds like it is quite remarkable. Actually, I'm kind of eager to see the entire premiere show – phases like "amazing" and "best ever" are being tossed about like confetti on the flist. cmshaw – this is your official reminder that you are supposed to host a Vividcon vid party!

Have you guys seen this LJ Aqua thing? Surreal, baby…

I found an old USB drive today, with 1,150 words of abandoned Hugh/Callum. Abandoned in the sense that I never finished it – not in the sense that either Hugh or Callum were abandoned. Which is not to say that they weren't. Just that – okay, whatever. Dead horse. But I was surprised to find that I didn't hate it. Not surprised enough to finish it though. Perhaps when that WIP meme rolls around again, I shall post the remnants. Also about 350 words of Tony/Carol (Wire in the Blood). The latest file was from October 2006 – my own little fannish time capsule.

It's still hot here. Just, y'know, for the record.

JDM is going to make a film about Woodstock. Groovy, baby. And he's going to play a queer man. Even more groovy. I'm hoping for gratuitous sex scenes.

So bayleaf and I were chatting the other night and I was complaining that my flist, after years of careful cultivation, had become perhaps too wank free. Seriously, people – you make me work too hard for it. PETJA? Should not have had to spend so much time jumping from link to link on that one. And now I have no idea how things turned out. Six degrees of separation is too much – please to be cultivating some wankiness. Or at least more thorough reporting of wankiness. ::g::

Toss off rec: "Full Tilt Boogie" by hansbekhart and essenceofmeanin (at spn_j2_bigbang). Interesting premise, jealous!Sam, Dean/Michael (and Sam/Dean and Sam/Michael and Dean/Sam/Michael), and a lovely oh, almost, almost, almost there, shit not quite ending. In other words, my favorite flavor of angst.

Thinking about a weekend in NY in a few weeks – haven't been there since before the summer. Still pondering whether I should do NOLA in October or put the dollars in the New Zealand fund. Almost bought a ticket to Dublin last night, just because. ::g:: My wandering feet need to wander!!

Why is LJ telling me New Zealand is spelled wrong...?

I think for the very first time I'm really lamenting the lack of a well organized web page. dvd_commentary sounds like a hell of a lot of fun (although, heh, watch me assume anyone wants to do a commentary on one of my stories), but I can't sign up because I have no way of really pointing folks to my stories. There's a bunch of older stuff at the web site but anything more recent is scattered throughout my LJ – untagged of course, because that would make things much too easy – or story communities or whatever. This distresses me – to the extent I'm willing to get distressed on a hot summer day.

(Although – I mean I'm assuming folks know it always okay to do something like a DVD commentary or a critical review or a remix or an alternative ending or a sequel or a timestamp or really, whatever. I mean – once it's out there I'm assuming people know it's fair game. I've had my fun with it and if you do something with it, well, it's just more fun for me.)

I don't know if it's the heat or the three hours of sleep last night but I'm feeling kinda blech today. Headache, stomach ache. I am out of sorts.

I am slowly making my way through Dark Angel season two. I'm unhappy that they've replaced Lydecker with White. I prefer covert government conspiracies to quasi-religious cults with murky agendas and ridiculous face paint. I do like pool games between Alec and Logan. I wish Original Cindy had more to do. I wish Jessica Alba could act.

I'm prickly, aren't I? Not toxic, but pricklish. Licorice. ::g:: God, when I engage in incoherent rhyming, it's time to go.

It is murderously hot here. I hate the heat – it makes me sticky and cranky and generally short-tempered and unpleasant. Still, it is a good excuse for eating frozen fruit pops.

A list, because all the cool kids are doing them.

1. brigantine1 wrote a sequel/follow-up/corollary/whatever story to 9:30 to Yellowknife called Leeward that is wonderful and marvelous! It has Brian Larson from The Invisible and while I won't say there isn't any angst (because there is and it's very, very tasty angst ::g::), I suspect many of you will like the ending much better than the ending to the first story. ::g:: In any case, I fangirl her and the story, and urge you to go read!

2. It turns out I can have George Gently! Gotta love fans. I've downloaded both episodes and hope to watch them this weekend. I am giddy with anticipation!

3. Arena Stage is putting on two shows this year that I think I may need to see: Wishful Drinking, an autobiographical piece written and performed by Carrie Fisher, and Sweet Bird of Youth, by Tennessee Williams, whom I will adore until the day I die. If anyone has any buzz, good or bad, on the Fisher show, let me know!

4. My copy of Victory of Eagles has shipped from the U.K.!

5. There is a ship date for the season three Supernatural DVDs! (September 4)

6. I read the first of the Dexter books. Serial killers for the win.

7. I got tagged in that "You Make My Day" meme. I define "making my day" as everything from "I love you dearly and just seeing your name on my flist or in my email makes me happy" to "I don't know you very well at all but find you absolutely fascinating and when you post it fills me with glee," and given that somewhat all encompassing definition, you will probably not be surprised to hear that I couldn't narrow it down to ten. If I put vagabondage on the list, there wasn't room for isiscolo! Who could choose between celli and misspamela? No list would be complete without bayleaf and china_shop, but then however would I find room for katallison, brynnmck, the_shoshanna and msmoat? mearagrrl is a must—but then so are rei_c, ladyjax, lynnmonster, danceswithwords and ignazwisdom. astolat! cesperanza! kassrachel!

::sigh:: And then my calculator broke.

And so I quit—you will all have to take my word for the fact that I adore you. Immensely. ::g::

I am sleeeeepy! Stayed up way too late last night and now I am bleary eyed and falling asleep in my cups. As it were. ::g::

Met up with several folks last night to go hear naominovik read, and it was quite a fun experience. It was interesting to hear some of the questions asked and to have brought home the fannish investment of folks outside of what I think of as the traditional (read mine ::g::) fannish community. And her reading was marvelous fun! Worth not being able to get to sleep until after 2 a.m. and struggling to keep my eyes open today! Coffee, coffee, my kingdom for coffee!

I did not buy a copy of the book last night, however, as I am snooty and anxiously awaiting my copy from the UK. I just love the art so much more on the UK editions.

I have decided to get another tattoo. Yes, it is apparently a very, very slippery slope. But this one is going to be larger, and on my back, so I have to save up some dollars to make it happen. Plus, I want to go to the guy who did bayleaf's, and he's from Belgium, so it's also a matter of waiting for him to come to the tattoo show in NY in May 2009. Plenty of time to plan, save, etc.

Speaking of books, I got my hands on the Dexter books last night. We started talking about the series and the books at dinner the other night and I begged for to be lent copies. So now I have the first and (possibly) the second books. I haven't watched the series at all but must admit to a fascination with serial killers, and the notion that the books are from the point of view of the killer? I am intrigued.

::groan:: I must stay awake for two more hours. This is monstrous!

That sound you hear? Is life, flying through my fingers. The treadmill owns me. ::g::

I have recovered! Thanks to all of you who sent love! It was a long week of awful but by Friday I started to feel human again. I did not answer comments because I am a bad, terrible person, but they definitely helped me feel better. (With perhaps the exception of the_shoshanna's, or perhaps particularly because of the_shoshanna's—it was a little hard to tell. ::g::)

Over the weekend I holed up with spn_j2_bigbang stories. I finally read the hooker!fic of much fame, and enjoyed it immensely. I have conflicting emotions with regard to hooker!fic—an unsettling mixture of excitement and shame—and someday I'll write all about it and bore the pants off of y'all.

I also read a J2 story that felt like a cross between J2 and Hard Core Logo, in which Jared is in a punk band and Jenson is the merch boy. Quite frankly, it needed a good beta, but somewhere along the first twenty pages or so I got hooked and stayed to the end, and found it to be a satisfying experience.

And I read rei_c's story, and as expected enjoyed it immensely. But then, I'm the virtual equivalent of a rei_c Dead Head, following her around in my van and selling tie-dye t-shirts out the back to make ends meet. Oh—and wonderful news! There is a new KDS universe story—Hunting Knowledge, and a music mix (which has me almost as excited as the story itself). Seriously folks, if I ever disappear, it's because I've found the magic closet portal to the KDS universe, and I'm off hanging in New Orleans, drinking milk punch and trying to talk Rose and Katie into a threesome.

These are by no means the only spn_j2_bigbang stories I've read, and someday I will put together a list of recs and thoughts. Really.

Switching to another fandom track—I want George Gently! Why can't I have George Gently? Martin Shaw is my lesbian exception and I deserve George Gently! ::sigh:: BBC really needs to toss this stuff onto DVD as fast as Americans do. I have good Yankee dollars I'm prepared to spend frivolously! And yes, I'm looking at y'all for Apparitions as well. Damn it.

And while we're making the fandom rounds, china_shop threw a whammy across the ocean and somehow I found myself buying the packaged set of all the dS episodes. Because apparently, I try to get out and y'all drag me back in! I also bought season two of Dark Angel because Jensen Ackles is Just. That. Pretty. Yikes with the pretty. Holy moly, hot damn with the pretty.

Not that I'm shallow or anything.

I am sick. Stop. Send love. Stop.

My nose feels like it's the size of Cleveland (why is it always Cleveland. Why not, my nose feels the size of Paris? Ah--the wonder of cold medicine...) Tissues are my best friend. I lost most of Saturday night and Sunday to a sore throat and cough. Now I just want to sleeeep. And blow my nose.

I owe comments and email and I'm sorry--I thought maybe I was starting to catch up but now I'm behind again. Maybe Thursday, after the Partner of Much Work goes on vacation and I have a few days back to myself.

Bleeg. My nose hurts.