Canticles and Cantrips

This post is backdated, newer entries are below.

All fics in chronological order.

Past fics written before LJ here

( Fics here! )

My extremely messy to-do list, if anyone wants to see: http://raynos.livejournal.com/22313.html
No, it didn't start out that messy. =D

( Christmas presents )

( 31_days June 2006 (All Bleach) )

( Pr0ntober 2006 )

( Videos here )

You have kaeru_chan to thank for this. I asked for suggestions on what fandom to vid Madonna's 4 Minutes to, and she suggested Avatar.

I must say it worked out pretty well. Vid behind a cut because I know some people haven't watched the finale yet. Blame Youtube for messing up the vid quality.

( Grab a boy~ Go grab a girl~ )

After listening to 4 Minutes by Madonna, badly want to make an MV for it. Any suggestion on the fandom?

Central ideas: Saving the world, Grab the boy - and grab the girl

THIS IS ABOUT THE AVATAR FINALE.

I CRIED.

I WAS FIXATED.

I EFFING CHEERED.

THAT IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW. OTHER THAN THE FACT THAT YOU NEED TO WATCH IT. LIKE BURNING. NO I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE BEHIND ON THE ENTIRE SERIES, YOU JUST NEED TO. THIS IS THE ENDING TO TOP ALL ENDINGS. EPIC. EPIC WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN.

So my hard drive completely died.

Not surprised, it was going bonkers for a bit. In fact, I may have helped it along with the constant booting and rebooting in an attempt to get to the information that I wanted to burn out. My colleague's friend tried to load it from a USB connection, but it wouldn't detect. He told me that I could try to do data recovery, but it would be pretty expensive.

"No biggie," I told him. "I don't really need the data in there. It's just a bunch of songs and some vids."

And surprisingly, it's true. When was the last time I listened to all the mp3s in my computer? Or watched the Avatar episodes that I had stashed away? Even the things that I had backed up, those JL/JLU episodes, Teen Titans, other random stuff... when was the last time that I had actually touched those? Even fics... if they weren't on LJ, they probably wouldn't have seen the light of day.

So it's true, I don't really need that data. I haven't lost a part of my life just because my hard drive doesn't work. And there's always new fics to write, new images to save.

This is scary. My parents like Transformers (aka TF) toys.

Yesterday, after I successfully transformed my TF toys and was giggling like an idiot when lying on the floor and taking photos (long story, more later), my mother walked past and said, "The toy we got you is pretty." She then followed up with "We should get the other model that was on sale! You like planes, don't you?"

This was followed by more "BUH?" from me, as well as "I don't know which Transformer that is (and I only want a Skyfire anyway...)"

Mother: "Nonsense! Since we're going out tomorrow, let's look!"

So we looked. There were a bunch of Optimus Primes. The other model was a randomly created character that didn't even appear in the movie, and had a plane with propellers on the wings for an alt mode. And right on top of all of them was a single box of premium series Ironhide.

Mother: "Get that!!!"
Me: "BUH?"
Mother: "It's the last one! And it's pretty! GET IT!!!"
Me: "That's not even from the same wave as the Optimus Prime, I don't think it's on discount."
Mother: "We'll check at the counter. GET IT!!! ... By the way, you don't want the plane right?"
Me: "Eh, no, it doesn't look that nice... (and I only want a Skyfire anyway...)"
Mother: "Right, to the checkout!"

It was on discount. So we got it.

I should be more amused that in one year, the number of TFs I own has increased from 0 to 8, but instead I am vaguely horrified that 25% of those were acquired in the last few days.

For the curious, the half of my collection that isn't in the office is in the pictures below.

( Let me tell you a story... )

Tracy (a RL friend) is LOVE. She saw a Transformers booth when she was in Canada, and bought a Starscream picture for me. Even though she wasn't really sure who Starscream was. And she got me a signed version cause the guy who was selling it offered. I knew the pic looked really familiar, so I hit up the web and found it was a print of the Starscream drawn by Alex Milne!

(You can check it out on his deviantart here.)

Isn't it lovely? And it's SIGNED. DOUBLY THANK YOU, DEAR.

In RL, because my team leader is overseas, and the rest of the team will follow suit... next Monday, I've been at work from 8 to 8. This has resulted in a very tired Ray. (because Ray needs more than 6 hours of sleep)

The parents noted this. This had the happy coincidence of happening at the same time as movie Transformers started to go on sale. So the conversation went like this:
Parents "You want a Transformer? They're on sale." <--- Note that these are the same people who said I wasn't acting my age by buying Transformers toys
Me "I'm actually saving up for a Skyfire."
Parents "But they're half-price! And we're going down to take a look. Who do you want?"
Me "Well... I suppose an Optimus Prime wouldn't hurt."
Parents "OK. We'll wait for you in case we buy the wrong thing."

They went down, and after a hasty phone call involving "Why are there two types of Optimus Primes???" "Uh, actually there are more, but just get the one on sale..." they called back to say, "We bought it. You don't have to go down after work."

I went BUH! but when I went home after work I found myself the happy owner of a First Strike Optimus Prime. (Who is widely touted as being great because of how GEEWUN he is for a movie toy. I rofled.) Had some difficulty transforming him, but with the dad's help we got him done. Only that he couldn't STAND or hold his guns! So Dad and I hit up the Net.

Me "No, no, what is this link anyway? No, no, YOUTUBE VID"

And then we realised that we forgot to do extra stuff to his feet and dismantle the gun. After going BUH! a bit more, I finally got him into a heroic pose with guns and standing on my desk. Only that I'm sure I shouldn't let him point the guns at me. *grin*

Photo op later, it's almost 12mn here. But I will really need to show how much smaller my Henkei Starscream is. =D

For some mysterious reason, as I was leaning back in my chair, thinking of how to structure a report for work, listening to a mash-up and staring at my little Thundercracker robot hero, my brain suddenly thought of a Transformers AU where the characters are humans in a Victorian steampunk era. Nicely summarised by this phrase: "Optimus Prime may have been regal, but he came from new money, and his humble roots were betrayed by his unfortunate choice in the style of his facial hair."

Yeah, I know my brain is weird.

So, other than the fact that the wiki entry says GLaDOS is pronounced like Gladys (those in the know will get the joke) the Still Alive song from Portal is CREEPY. CREEPY.



Only it gets CREEPIER when you hear the same song in Japanese.



And then I find this parody of Lucky Star (btw, it's drawn and animated by a fan artist...)



Oh holy crap. *blinks*

EDIT: Vids working now!

Discovered a fun thing today: How to view entries by security level. Perfect for all those pesky custom groups.

Only available for Paid and Premium accounts, batteries not included. XD

Right now I have the inexplicable desire to write fic on my OWN LIFE. (Would it still be called fic if I did?) Which is immensely stupid, due to things like a) confidentiality, and b) RL embarrassment. But if I did, it would go something like this:


"Inexplicably, while in the midst of photocopying A reached over and hit the switch for the blinds. They rolled all the way up from their previous half-mast position with their peculiar humming noise.

"Wow, that's bright," I commented, earning me strange looks from my colleagues. I ignored them and leaned back, focusing on a white ship just beyond the shore. Since I needed to get used to the sudden change in lighting, why not enjoy the nice scenery outside?"


YEAH I DON'T KNOW OK.

... you know, when I say I'm going to do something, it pretty much turns into "let's invite life to smack me in the face!" sort of thing.

Late to the party (but when am I not?), have a meme inspired by Merlin Missy's article Your Friends Are Not Watching the Same Show as You.

Here are the channels I tune to!

Avatar: The OMG WHAT WILL THE CREATORS IMPRESS US WITH NEXT show
Bleach: The Rukia and Ichigo KICK ASS as partners show
Card Captor Sakura: The Sakura saves the world with luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurve show
Justice League: The Man, Second Childhood Rocks show aka OH LOOK A SUPERHERO show, that became Winged Tough Girl and Her Boy: A Love Story for the Ages Show
Lord of the Rings: The OMG LEGOLAS SO PURTY movie (I was a teen ok!!!), now OMG MIDDLE EARTH SO EPIC movies
Pushing Daisies: The Bright Snarky Colourful Show about DEATH
Supernatural: The BROTHERS BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW Show
Teen Titans: The All Raven, All the Time Show
Transformers G1: The I SUBSTITUTE YOUR REALITY WITH MY OWN FANDOM Show (because sometimes it’s the Characterisation? What Characterisation is there in canon? Show)
Transformers Animated: The GOSH THE CREATORS ARE MORE FANNISH THAN US Show

Anyone else got the same broadcast? Different? Let me know!

I HAS A GEEWUN STARSCREAM!

'Nuff said.

Rather than spazzing out over when a (possibly non-existant) spotcheck will take place, I think I'll distract myself with a meme.

- Post a list of 16 fandoms.
- Have your friends list guess your favorite character from each one.
- When guessed, bold the line, include the character name, and write a sentence about why you like that character.

( Fandoms here. Now with alphabetical goodness! )

Man, I don't think I actually have 16 fandoms, but since it's filled, humour me!

I should have brought my coat, the air-con is COLD.

Other people aim to post every day of the month. I? Go for a month without posting.

Thank you for all your well-wishes for the trip. I came back safely, albeit with a lot of drama I don't fancy going into here. Then I was eaten alive by work, and it's only now that I'm taking advantage of the public holiday to wring out a post.

Muse is still very weak, but I've been drawing instead. It's very strange, since I haven't drawn in about... 7 years? Still, it's nice to indulge. Despite the muse being half-dead, I've convinced her to poke at some Transformers fic. Nothing that I can show publicly, since it's most PWP and lots of plotting.

Been following Transformers Animated and Avatar. Both are pretty rocking, but I need some free brain space to write about those in detail.

And that's about it. Till whenever I get a moment to breathe!

I think I managed to isolate what is causing this dry-up in writing for me: an intense desire to read, instead of write. Perhaps I've been writing for a little too long, because even when filling up the last meme on 3 characteristics from my headspace on certain characters (Which reminds me, I will finish that! Soonish. XD) I literally had to rake through my mind. Seems like there isn't enough input!

(There is also the fact that I'm too tired to sort out my thoughts, but that's a story for another day.)

I guess this is a roundabout way of saying: rec me something to read! Proper novels, newspaper articles, fanfic... Doesn't matter if I know the fandom/topic, if it's tickled your fancy in any way, bring it on!

Name a character and I'll tell you three (or more) facts about them from my own personal headcanon.

I am NEVER refereeing a game again. I think I got about as much exercise as the players, and DEFINITELY a lot of mental exercise. Especially since I had to make snap judgement calls!

But it was fun.

And now I'm going to make an AMV again! Hee! =D

Having a sudden irrepressible panic attack at the office. Most of it I can attribute to me pushing stuff away by saying "I'll deal with it when I get back to the office." Well, now I'm back, and BAM.

Need to remind myself that even when I said I'd do them when I'm back in office I didn't mean immediately. Breathe.

There. That helped tons.

Enjoy your extra day of the year!