| it's the weekend! |
[Jul. 10th, 2009|06:56 am] |
And I'm going to visit ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) saramund down in Ballarat!
*glees*
Now the biggest fear: do I have everything packed?? |
|
|
| intarwebs! |
[Jul. 9th, 2009|10:37 pm] |
Oh Modem,
Let's never fight again!
love,
Sel. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Jul. 9th, 2009|07:01 am] |
Dear Modem,
You have served me faithfully for many years. Please give written notice the next time you decide to conk out on me. This having to reset you completely is very uncool, and using dial-up is so 2000!
Disconnectedly Yours,
Sel. |
|
|
| GABIT registration |
[Jul. 4th, 2009|01:23 am] |
The pre-rego was way slower for the RDA event than the Sanctuary one. Way slower.
Oh well. I requested tickets. Can't do much beyond that. |
|
|
| GABIT 2010 pre-rego |
[Jul. 3rd, 2009|09:53 am] |
GABIT pre-rego for the Sanctuary and RDA conventions 2010 is at the delightful time of 12 midnight tonight Australian time - Australian SG1 fans, take note!
I will be up and attempting to pre-rego (assuming the system does not go down in flames "Mayday, Mayday, we are so going down!") and have at least one person who may be going in with me.
Anyone else want a pre-rego for the GABIT events? I can only register two more, though, and I need your personal details. Priority goes to antipodeans, naturally.
...that server had better stay up. *glares darkly at it*
Also, y'all want to come to the RDA convention, because that Saturday 6th will be my 34th birthday and there shall be HUGE PARTYNESS YAY!
--
ps. Still sick, still grumpy. Possibly grumpier due to sickness. Bleh. |
|
|
| am can haz cold |
[Jul. 2nd, 2009|09:44 am] |
I hate being sick. It's grumpy-making and depressing and miserable. And I'm never sure just how much I should be resting and relaxing and how much I should get done those things that I need to get done.
Right now, I have something residing in my throat, clinging to the back of it with aggravating persistence and hacking frustration. I suspect that I'm going to drink an ocean of tea today. |
|
|
| Sydney BPAL meet notice |
[Jun. 28th, 2009|08:40 pm] |
Not sure if there are BPAL people reading this - it's possible - but there's a Sydney "Meet 'n Sniff" on this Saturday 4th July at Marrickville. It's at someone's house, so it would help to have an approximate idea of numbers.
Drop me a comment if you want further details! |
|
|
| when the bullshit hits the fan |
[Jun. 26th, 2009|06:37 pm] |
I have decided that the phrase "consenting adults" when applied to adultery or cheating is bullshit.
"Oh, but it's okay - they're consenting adults!"
As though the consent of the two parties engaged in an extramarital affair was the only thing that matters!
Simply put: I have never yet seen a publicised case of adultery where the betrayed spouse "consented" to be betrayed. Where she (it's usually a 'she') was perfectly okay with her husband sleeping with another woman (or man) and gave her consent.
Yeah...no.
--
There were only two deaths today, right? Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett? 'Cos I've seen several people mention a third. AFAIK, Jeff Goldblum is still alive and well.
Still, 'tis a sad day for Gen X in losing two of their childhood/adolescent icons. |
|
|
| licorice assorteds |
[Jun. 24th, 2009|10:50 pm] |
So, probably the best way for any of my friends to to work out that my boyfriend is abusing me would be for them to look for bruises on him. Because if my guy lifted a hand against me, I'd beat the crap out of him (with my trusty hockey stick).
And, uh, I don't seem to bruise very easily.
All I had to show for my hockey ball in the nose from Sunday is a couple of scratches on my face, and a slight discolouration and swelling - really very slight. It took until Tuesday for someone to ask about it.
Not that one hopes for a black eye, but at least with a nice discolouration, you get sympathies, yes?
--
After an absence from regular church attendance for the last seven years, I've been going to a 'local' church - it's about half an hour away, but it's a good solid church with good solid teaching. I'm back in a bible study and socialising and feeling socially reconnected in a way that I haven't felt...well, since my last bible study. Or possibly since I drifted out of SG1 fandom along with a great many other SJers that I chatted with, and never got back into a mutual fandom with any of them.
Just got back from one, in fact. Sermon on the mount, specifically the section on marriage and oaths, and there was some really good discussion - enough that we went rather overtime: we were trying to finish at 9pm and ended up going until 9:45.
I guess the one thing that stood out for me was my bible study leader noting that many of the 'rules' of the bible are more about informing and directing our own choices, rather than using it as a blunt instrument with which to bludgeon others into "Christian" submission.
--
And for those of you keeping up with the metafandom discussions: I have a short piece on the "fic warnings" issue over here. |
|
|
| I Twitter, Therefore I Am. |
[Jun. 24th, 2009|07:12 am] |
"I wouldn't want to use anything that something had died to make!"
Oh, the stupidity of the innocent.
Darling, you live in the Western world. You naturally use something that someone has died in the process of all its components being brought together. Your world is subtly coated in the blood of those less fortunate. It's a 'clean blood' though, because you'll never see it.
The war in the Congo, in which women and girls are routinely raped, and boys are turned into child soldiers? Is a result of a power struggle over the coltan mines, which is an essential element in most electronic equipment, but specifically mobile phones and laptops. In fact, many of the wars in Africa are related to resources and who controls them. Western companies have been doing business with whoever controls the resources, often ignoring and turning a blind eye to what is done, in the name of profits for their Western shareholders.
Do you know what happens to your used electronic equipment when it's done? I don't know where the US or EU waste goes, but Australia's ends up in China - seeping industrial chemicals into the land and bodies of the people who pick over the corpses of our electronics, human vultures trying to eke out a living from the fragments of re-usable metals that still remain in the shattered casings. There's nothing else to do in the cities used as dumping grounds - their land's being poisoned beyond use thanks to our waste. And yes, people die of it.
Just because you don't see the blood spread out over the things you use like a dismembered animal carcass on a butcher's board doesn't mean it's not there.
But it's not something we see on the news or hear about on Twitter. |
|
|
| hockey |
[Jun. 21st, 2009|03:41 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  sleepy | ] |
Got whacked back on the nose from a lifted ball by one of my team-mates.
Two cuts, a lot of blood, and a lovely spreading bruise later, we think the bone isn't broken.
Aches something dreadful though, and I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open. Not sure if the 'trouble keeping my eyes open' is a function of being hit on the nose with a ball, or just being generally exhausted a nice warm room. |
|
|
| long week for a short one |
[Jun. 11th, 2009|11:30 pm] |
Left home at 6:30am this morning. Just arrived back home. It wasn't all work, it was just stuff.
Honestly, though, I'm so glad it was a four day week. Five days would have killed me.
I don't even get a break on the weekend - if it's not one thing, it's another. I have to learn to say NO. I need some me-time. Some writing time. Some time when I don't have to look over my shoulder or listen to my sisters' choice of music, or be a people person, or be somewhere, doing something.
*cries* |
|
|
| why me? |
[Jun. 8th, 2009|10:23 pm] |
Okay, so, guy I meet once at a party. We, among other peoples, have arrived rather ahead of the crowd. Me, being me, introduces myself and initiates a conversation. Just chatty things to keep the conversation moving.
It's a little difficult at the party at first, because there aren't too many people around - maybe a dozen, and most of them seem to know each other. ( Read more... ) |
|
|
| trip to USA - September 2009 |
[Jun. 6th, 2009|05:01 pm] |
I'll be in the USA again this year, from the 28th August until the 11th September.
My current itinerary reads:
28th-31st August - San Francisco Bay Area, California
1st-3rd September - Washington, DC
3rd-7th September - Atlanta, GA: at Dragon*Con
7th-11th September - ??? (as yet undecided)
I fly into SFO around 10am Friday 28th August, and fly out of SFO 10pm on Friday, 11th September.
The San Francisco and Atlanta sections of my trip are confirmed with the people/hotels I'm staying in. Washington is unconfirmed and if I don't have somewhere to stay, I might be inclined to change it. The 7th-11th is completely unknown as in "I haven't yet decided where I'm going to be" but current inclinations are leaning to New Orleans, LA, and Miami, FL.
My questions for you guys:
1. Are you in or around any of these cities and would you like to meet up?
2. Will you be at Dragon*Con? Would you like to meet up?
3. Do you have any suggestions/recommendations for the 7th-11th leg of my trip?
I will be very heavily dependant on the public transport system and the friends I'm staying with in all areas, so my ability to meet up with you will be limited by where I can get to.
(I kept on typing "Atlanta" as "Atlantis". *facepalm*) |
|
|
| because politics is political |
[Jun. 5th, 2009|07:51 pm] |
I'm not American. I'm not a political Australian. I think that politicians are mostly crooked, human nature will almost always get the better of ideals, and that whichever party you vote for, you're still screwed.
Thankfully, Australia has mandatory voting. So I try to pay attention, and I get to yell at my politicians when they're being twerps. (There's a lot of twerpishness going around in the Australian parliament right now, no matter which party - major or minor - you vote for.)
That said, two people on my f-list have posted about politics - specifically about patriotism, presidents, and policy.
I wouldn't usually intercede, but I've been noticing something about the Americans on my list that I thought, well, maybe I'll share:
( Read more... )
That's an hour of my life I won't be getting back!
*goes off to write* |
|
|
| Art Trading Card! |
[Jun. 3rd, 2009|11:19 pm] |
audrich? I got it! It's lovely!
Might be a while before I manage to send one back - just too busy and tired!
MUST GO TO BED, NOW!
saramund, still have not booked tix, but will. NO TIME. |
|
|
| exhausted |
[Jun. 2nd, 2009|07:26 pm] |
I spent 4 hours today entering access codes for a bunch of software components that I thought I needed for some testing I was doing.
FOUR HOURS. And, in the end, I realised that I don't need all the components after all. *GRR*
--
It's all I can do to keep up, but there's a very good post by amilyn over here at her journal on the murder of Dr. Tiller in the US. As usual, other people say it much better.
--
Writing is virtually non-existent lately - just no time for it. Had a piano concert last night, I'm heading off to hockey tonight, got a prayer meeting tomorrow, got arabel on Thursday (we still on, hon?), and a meet-up on Friday. If I skip the Friday meet-up it will be the third one I've opted out on in as many months.
Might be necessary for sanity space, though.
And then THE LONG WEEKEND. God bless the Queen! An excellent excuse for another public holiday! :D
Goals for this month: get more sleep, start the SGA Big Bang, stop ordering BPAL, lose weight. You wouldn't believe the roundness of my belly in the last couple of weeks. If I didn't know better, I'd assume I was pregnant. |
|
|
| notes on charm quilts |
[May. 30th, 2009|06:35 pm] |
This quilt uses the Jacob's Ladder block, but a very different colour scheme.
This pinwheels quilt is one I'd like to do with my batik jelly rolls. Or maybe Hidden Stars, which uses three strips instead of two.
This quilt of triangles and squares on point? So exquisitely precise! Every square, and the colours, and, oh, it's just beautiful.
A couple that I don't like quite so much: A rather dizzying Migrating Birds pattern with charm squares. Some old-style fabrics, but a sweetly effective result!
This quilt took fifteen years to make? ACK!
Oh, and MODA: Daydreams, Black & White (just a personal note) |
|
|
| Kaleidescope: Jazz |
[May. 30th, 2009|12:21 am] |
Kaleidescope is a "world music" series by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra - the first one was Japanese drumming, this one was American Jazz. There's another two to go through the year - just part of my 'go out and do more stuff' plan for thisyear.
Essentially, it was James Morrison at the Sydney Opera House this evening, playing Louis Armstrong's music. Beautiful stuff. Even if I am exhausted after going to bed past midnight last night. They went through the classics, from What A Wonderful World, to Mac The Knife; fromMakin' Whoopee, to When The Saints Go Marching In. The singer had a gorgeous voice, and I think I'm going to have to listen to more Ella Fitzgerald.
I'm so tired.
I've had something on every night this week. Monday was just going out to the gym, but Tuesday was hockey, Wed was bible study, Thursday dinner at the parentals', and a concert tonight. And it's past midnight again. So I'm pooped. And wondering how to get rid of this social life thingy. Between it and the job, I barely seem to have the energy to do anything. Downside of the 'go out and do more stuff' plan for this year. I'm doing more stuff...but I'm not doing the stuff that will get me where I want to go.
While in the Rocks area of Sydney (historic, tourist, down next to the Harbour Bridge), I wandered into a bookshop and walked out with Dreams Of My Father. Confronting and engrossing - so much so, I only realised the train was at my stop as the doors closed and pelted up the stairs...only to miss my station. Argh.
Tomorrow night (and most of tomorrow) is going to be very quiet, I think. I'll go to the gym first thing in the morning, but otherwise...I'd like to sit back and vegetate. And watch 24.
I subbed a short story to the Sword and Sorceress Anthology, originally edited by MZB. Didn't make the cut - "perfectly good story, just not what we're looking for." D'oh. I had another one in mind that I might try to write for next time. I probably shouldn't be posting my failures here, but it's not as though I have any successes to report. |
|
|
| a troubling bill of rights? |
[May. 29th, 2009|12:13 am] |
I believe strongly in the need to give a voice to those who might otherwise have difficult expressing or defending themselves.
There's a bill of rights on the federal parliamentary table in Australia: a document that defends, preserves, and protects basic human rights.
( which should be simple enough, ne? ) |
|
|
| Happy Birthday! |
[May. 26th, 2009|10:06 pm] |
To a bunch of awesome people whose birthdays are in May:
audrich, jadestrick, thefragrantelf, chiroho, mtgat, jalara, greenconverses, sjhw_tolerance, the very very wonderful saramund, and starfinn!
I'm generally pretty bad with birthdays, to tell you the truth. Half the time I forget or just don't have time to wish people well.
So, uh, group birthday post! *\o/* |
|
|
| dragons |
[May. 21st, 2009|11:06 pm] |
wardragon? You might like this page.
Some are adorable, others are funny - I love the DRAGon, but the last one makes me all sad, all curled up on himself. :(
eta: more drawergeeks |
|
|
| anyone from LA? |
[May. 20th, 2009|09:02 pm] |
|
Is there anyone in the LA area on my f-list? |
|
|
| family |
[May. 18th, 2009|10:51 pm] |
Sometimes, one wishes that one leaped, fully-formed, into existence - Athena from the head of Zeus.
And sometimes, one is damned grateful for awesome, awesome family.
Cryptic!Sel is Cryptic. :D |
|
|
| footy dicks, atheists for Christianity, and...other things |
[May. 14th, 2009|09:09 pm] |
Dear Matthew Johns,
DIAF. KTHXBAI. The links may be triggery for some people - they relate to gang-banging in football culture, and sexual situations with questionable consent.
It's been pretty big news here in Australia, and by 'pretty big', I mean, ( cut for possible triggery ) kind of big.
--
On a more unusual theme: Atheists For Christianity - his experiences in Africa, rebuilding, supporting, developing.
--
Also, advertising to highlight discrimination?
I'm intrigued by the premise: to promote awareness of discrimination against fat people through comparison with other groups that also experience discrimination.However, I'm not entirely sure about the effectiveness of the result to the broader public since the initial displays of discrimination will throw people off-side before the message gets anywhere near finished.
I get what they're doing and how they're doing it; I'm just wondering if others do, too.
--
And finally, American breaches elected Myanmar leader's privacy: gets her in trouble with the Burmese Junta. I'm sorry, but Viet vet or not, how could sneaking into the house of a woman who's lived under house arrest for thirteen of the last nineteen years possibly be a good, useful, or helpful idea? |
|
|
| assorted bits and bobs |
[May. 14th, 2009|06:59 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | increasingly isolated | ] |
When reading Cake Wrecks, I have to say that a little part of me looks at the pictures of the questionable cakes that were "modelled after" something in a picture or a cake book - particularly the wedding cakes - and thinks, "well, if you'd ordered the cake from a real cake shop instead of el cheapo, you might have gotten something that resembled the original a little more."
eg. The Corpse Cake
Now, this is probably unfair to the brides/birthday people who think that, well, the local caterer should be able to do something like this, after all, that's what they're trained to do, isn't it?, to which I think, Yes, well, we're all taught to string words together at school, but I'm no Neil Gaiman!
And speaking of Neil Gaiman, I was linked to this post via wiliqueen: How An Author Is Not Your Bitch, which put me a little in mind of Melanie Rawn and The Captal's Tower which has been MIA for the last, oh, twelve years or so. D'oh!
Dreamwidth: I have an account but it's not really being used. Also, work has discovered DW and added it to the list of blocked sites. So I'm back in Coventry again as far as communication goes (not that there was much communication in the first place).
Strangely, they haven't yet blocked bulletin boards and forums - even the craft/hobby ones. Although I may wake up one day and discover that the places I usually wander into for a modicum of basic fannish interaction are gone. |
|
|
| i'm in a kind of rebellion right now |
[May. 11th, 2009|06:15 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  blah | ] |
I have a ticket to go to a piano concert tonight at the Opera House. I'm minded to skip it entirely, rather the way I did with the play that falls on the same night as the Star Trek premiere. I could stay home and write...only I know I won't. I don't seem to have the wherewithal to write anymore, or to read without thinking I should be writing. And what I do write isn't good. Oh, it's satisfactory, and it's good enough, but it's not good - it's not what I can write.
Lately, I feel like I don't have enough time to myself, to sit back and dig in and make my bunker and get my grounding. I'm going out to see the Star Trek movie again tomorrow night, I have bible study on Wednesday, and will probably be meeting up with arabel to watch Dexter on Thursday or Friday.
And going to a concert isn't much fun without other people to enjoy it with. For instance, I can't come back and share how awesome it was, because most of you wouldn't know what I'm talking about and wouldn't care.
In the six months, I feel as though my existence has grown more solitary. As though "I'm the only person who..." in a multitude of different ways. And there's nothing to be done about it.
There isn't really a cure for time and distance and fading connections. |
|
|
| that was surprisingly easy... |
[May. 6th, 2009|11:55 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  contemplative | ] |
I just registered on the ESTA (basically where you apply for an authorisation check to make sure you can get into the USA if your country is on the Visa Waiver list).
No problemo.
--
Does anyone else buy postcards while on holidays? Buys them like they're going out of fashion, returns home, tucks them away...and discovers them several years later?
I just dug out a bunch of postcards from Death Valley, CA (on the way to Vegas, Oct 2007), London (probably Nov 2007), San Francisco (possibly Oct 2006), and China (Jan 2008).
...I have done a lot of travel, haven't I? And more to come in later 2009.
--
Have you ever been in a place where you're happily bobbing along...and then someone throws you a millstone and down you go?
Sometimes I really wish I could toss the millstone back at the thrower, watch them mill at the edge of the water...and then go in and under. TAKE THAT, YOU BASTARD!
--
I'm feeling slightly reckless right now. Just a little. And...kinda hung. Not because I have to get up in six hours to get to work an hour early for a phone meeting with the US, but because I'm at a crossroads and if I take this path, I don't know if I'll go up or down, but if I take the other, I know that the way will be more or less the same it's been for the last fifteen years since I left school.
To tell you true, I'm scared of the downs, but I really do want the ups. And I have to stop sabotaging myself, which I do a lot and I know I do, even as I say I want to succeed. |
|
|
| it would be nice if the headache went away |
[May. 4th, 2009|08:11 pm] |
I'm supposed to be joining arabel to watch Dexter tonight - we've been putting it off for weeks now - but at this moment, I'm really struggling with a headache and deadlines.
There's writing to be done. There's always writing to be done, but particularly today there's writing to be done, and it's not doing itself.
I really miss having people to talk to when I write.
--
For those of you in SGA fandom, there are two - not one, but two - currently-posting genficathons! The ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) team_sga Team AU fest, and the sga_genficathon 2009. Plenty of stuff to take you through the month of May!
The team_sga ficathon also features OT4 (ie. team orgies), but the very strong requirement by the mods was that "team = at least four people, John, Teyla, Rodney, and Ronon/Ford", so as long as you love the team, you're set and met!
And finally, the sgwomen_itest is still looking for entries for Challenge #13.
This entry was originally posted at http://tielan.dreamwidth.org/342512.html. Please comment there using OpenID. |
|
|
| fic: "Pendulum" - PG-13 [Sam/Jack] |
[May. 1st, 2009|10:11 pm] |
TITLE: Pendulum
SUMMARY: There are some things they don't talk about.
CATEGORY: Sam/Jack, angst
RATING: PG-13
WORD COUNT: 4,700
NOTES: For the sjficathon 2009. One of the stories I've been bashing my head against for the last month, and the primary reason everything else went on hold!
Pendulum |
|
|
| invite codes |
[May. 1st, 2009|09:47 pm] |
I have five invite codes.
Anyone want one?
I don't think I'm leaving LJ anytime soon, although I'll have to wait for their crossposting stuff to get worked out...
This entry was originally posted at http://tielan.dreamwidth.org/341674.html. Please comment there using OpenID. |
|
|
| decisions decisions |
[May. 1st, 2009|09:26 am] |
Is there anyone who lives in the Anaheim, CA area who's reading this and willing to pick something up for me on Saturday, 2nd May?
There's a Bats Day Black Market at the Sheraton Anaheim hotel, and one of the sponsors - a perfume oil company known as Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab or BPAL - is selling bottles of scent that I'm particularly interested in.
It's a scent that's only being sold at the market, and while people often buy these and resell them, the resell value tends to be twice the price at the market, if not more.
So, yeah, I'd like to get it at the market.
"The Bats Day™ Black Market is a vendors event where you can find something extra spooky thing for that spooky thing in your life. Over 50 venders will help you find what you are looking for, from clothing, music, artwork, books, collectable's, toys, to other original items." |
|
|
| Star Trek Movie - Review |
[Apr. 29th, 2009|06:48 pm] |
Okay, from the beginning, I feel it's incumbent on me to note that I am not a Trekkie, a Trekker, or a Star Trek fan. You can count on one hand the number of Star Trek episodes I have watched, and that includes part-episodes, scenes caught while channel-surfing, and the collective addition of episode seconds I have glimpsed while passing a TV tuned to the series.
So why the hell did I go to the Star Trek premiere? Mostly because I liked the look of the trailer, I liked the idea of a 're-imaging' of the series, and, let's face it, Zachary Quinto is dreadfully hot for someone who is best-known for playing an over-eyebrowed serial killer on television.
--
If I've gotten any of the terms, races, descriptions, or craft wrong, I sincerely apologise, and reiterate: I am not a Trek fan.
I've divided this review up into two segments. The first is a generic overview of the story. I haven't given away the key plot, but I will be describing the basics of the story. The second segment will be in my next post and will feature specific spoilers for the story, the plots, the characters, and the relationships. I'll link to it when it's done.
( Star Trek movie review: with broad-brush spoilers )
The verdict? Worth seeing, whether you're a Trek fan or a complete newbie.
I'm definitely going back to rewatch a second time. Possibly on big screen or Gold Class with a bunch of friends with whom I can discuss it afterward. |
|
|
| never mind about the baseball bat |
[Apr. 28th, 2009|09:27 pm] |
Someone had a go at my hockey skills at hockey training. Much more effective than a baseball bat to the head, although, all things considered, I'd rather the baseball bat.
It really hurt. Especially because I am the weakest player in our team.
When you spit poison in someone's face, don't act surprised when they swallow some of it. |
|
|
