With lots of swearing in it. Go figure.

It's slightly edited from a snippet I wrote as comment fic for a prompt in today's post at wrisomifu. The prompt was from Eddie Izzard:

Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. I did an original sin. I poked a badger with a spoon.

( And somehow, despite the obvious places my mind could've gone with that quote, you get this: )

Someone seems to be anonymous gift-bombing my FList, since I'm not the only one (unless that's just a coincidence), but wow--I got sparkles!

Thank you anonymous gifter! I've never gotten a virtual gift before, and you've made me very happy.

I'll definitely use those sparkles, too. ;->

Yes, I'm desperate enough to resort to polling. It also saves from having to go back and pick at the same damn paragraph yet again for another few minutes.

Poll #1480999 This isn't just procrastination, there is vague relevance.
This poll is closed.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 17

The character in question should definitely be kind of:

As you all might have guessed by the lack of truly cool icons made by myself, my artistic ability doesn't really extend to anything physical. This means that when it comes to Hallowe'en costumes, I need to rely on creativity rather than talent.

Luckily Javier has only been through three Hallowe'ens so far and hasn't wanted anything particularly complicated (I was very happy his urge to go as Eve from Wall-E was short-lived).

Last year when he was three he agreed it'd be cool to go as a monster, so I improvised up one monster suit:

( Grrr! )

( How I made it )

( And this year he wanted a kitty costume )

All-in all I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself. I hadn't tried to make anything costume-like in years, and I wasn't sure I could manage it. I also remembered being embarrassed by my own costuming attempts as a child. I (obviously) know nothing about makeup and I can't sew a seam, but Javier ended up looking fine all the same. Mostly, though, I hope he'll remember how happy his mommy was to spend this time and effort for one day of the year. He's certainly worth it, and I want him to always know that.

Okay, so I've got this story. The story is original (as in, this isn't fanfic), has four characters in it--if you include the dead one--and it's less than 2500 words long.

Here's the problem: one of the characters is black. His being a person of colour is certainly not the problem, but what is the problem is that I have no idea how to let the audience know. I mention it near the end of the story, but I've just realized that not only does it a) come out of nowhere at that point, b) possibly sounds like I'm just throwing in his skin colour to be 'sensitive' (gag), but also c) is the only time I mention anyone's skin colour at all, aside from referring to another guy as 'pale'.

The reason for that is because the default in media is white and I've obviously been well indoctronated by it. If someone's name is neutral and their ethnicity isn't mentioned, I assume they're white too (and male), unfortunately. But one of these characters is a character of colour, and I'd really like the audience to know it.

What makes this ironic is that there's no 'reason' for this one charcter to be black, any more than there's a 'reason' for the other characters to be white. I'm not trying to make a statement or show anyone how awesomely inclusive I am; this is just how I imagined the guy from the beginning. But I know (well, I'm fairly certain) that if I don't say anything about his looks specifically, the readers will pretty much assume that he's caucasian.

I'm kind of stymied about this. I'm probably going to end up shoehorning in short-hand descriptions of everyone, but at the moment I can't see natural places to do that without messing up the flow of the narrative. But I also hate the idea of this one character being the only one I describe because that's not fair.

I would just like the readers to have a better sense of who this guy is, and that has to include what he looks like. Argh. Maybe my pants are showing just worrying about it.

Back to Part One



I'm distressingly unphotogenic, but I am pleased to say that I hit with eight out of nine shots on the revolver. That's Art next to me. He taught all twelve of us Brazos Writers how to load, aim and shoot an 1800s Revolver, rifle and shotgun.

( Rifles are easier to aim than handguns )

Since there may still be some people on my beloved Friends List who may not be aware of it, let me say for the record that I am Canadian. This, among other things, means that I grew up without ever laying hands on a gun or rifle, as is still normal for the majority of Canadians. My father was in the military, my sister joined the Canadian Armed Forces Reserves one summer and our mother was taught how to fire guns by one of her many admirers during one of her many international adventures, but I never held anything more lethal than realistic toys.

I also grew up on what was known as a 'Rural Route', meaning it was a gravel road cut through a forest of towering pines. We lived on several acres near the bottom of the hill. At the top of the hill was the local Gun Club--an anomaly for certain--and every weekend we could hear the muffled clap of weapons' fire as the club members worked out their aggressions on the shooting range. It all seemed like a reckless and unpatriotic waste of time to me, and I couldn't imagine ever doing such a thing myself.

I live in Texas now, and you know where this post is going. I'm also a member of the Brazos Writers group, and one of the group's mandates is to arrange novel learning experiences for its members, on the assumption that these events will either inspire or add authenticity to what we're writing. And that's why I spent my Saturday aiming projectile weapons at targets and blowing the hell out of innocent gourds.

( The Great Pumpkin Shoot of 2009 )

(Gakked from dungeonwriter)

You are The High Priestess

Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.

The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

I think I'm a bit too erratic to really fit this--though the mercurial mood thing certainly works for me--but hey, I like it! I used to be able to read Tarot cards, too. Wish I could still do that.

Either Live Journal has given me a bonus for renewing my paid journal, or someone paid for me to have five more icons. (I only just discovered this by accident, while clicking through my info page, otherwise I would have mentioned it sooner.)

O.o

I suspect the latter. I don't know why I've been so gifted, but wow, that was a really nice thing to do! Thank you, whomever it was, very, very much. :D

Now I actually need to add more icons....

And, despite assuring people otherwise, proceeded not to post about it for about three months. Today I'm going to rectify that with a lot of pictures and some videos. :)

( Let's Go to Portugal! )

I'm fairly certain that I will eventually post some pictures from my trip to Portugal in July....

Anyway, chkc tagged me for this. I have always feared and loathed my handwriting, but I also actually enjoy writing stuff by hand on occasion, so I figured I might as well do it.

I had to use the camera because my husband's scanner is broken. That's why some of the edges are missing. Nothing important was lost aside from some closed brackets and the 'N' at the end of Rammstien, which I'm probably still not spelling right.

( I seem to be very wordy regardless of the medium. This is perhaps not surprising. )

These are the questions:

1) What's your online name?
2) What are your current favourite singer(s) or band(s)?
3) Stuff you ♥ (draw the heart!).
4) Favourite person of all time.
5) Who is your newest favourite person?
6) Tag six people (I cheated by tagging six and two as a bonus).

Please go read this. There's nothing I could possibly say better than what kyuuketsukirui has already. Except, perhaps, OMG THE FUCKING EPIC FAIL.

Edited because it gets worse! carolyn_claire kindly directed me to sheafrotherdon's post on this subject, which also mentions the use of body-swapping as a way for the lost-in-space characters to get to reconnect with their loved ones on Earth--including conjugal visits. Which is so incredibly disgusting I can't even tell you.

So, here's how it goes:

wpadmirer Picked out the following six icons so I would tell everyone why I have them. If you want to play, just tell me in the comments and I'll pick out six of your icons so you can post about why you have them, too. :) Spread the icon love! (And if you want to know about any other of my icons, I'd be happy to tell you.)

( Icon love under here )

I am off to Portugal with the fam. I am looking forward to it with my usual mixture of glee and dread. Mostly dread at this stage, possibly because I haven't finished packing yet.

But, hell, it is Portugal, and I've had wonderful times every time I've been to Europe before. I've just never been so far from home with the kid, which is what's freaking me out.

::Sighs:: I wish I weren't worried. I'll probably feel fine once we're on the airplane. I hope.

Anyway, see you later, everyone! I'll be back in early July, though we'll apparently have internet access so I might be online every so often or more....

Later, dudes!

Because of how my brain works, I somehow ended up finding it absolutely necessary to research military issue glow sticks for this story I'm writing. Specifically, if they have clips or not. (They do. \o/)

This has been amusing me all day.

And now I want a glow stick. A blue one. With a clip.