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Disneyland
I went to Disneyland yesterday.

We went for my brother's birthday so he got in free. We also sort of let him have the run of where we went. This ended up with us crossing the park two or three times as we went from one land for one ride and then another land across the park for another ride. We didn't go on that many. Jungle Safari, Pirates, Space Mountain, Mr.Toad's, Pinocchio, Matterhorn (x2), The Haunted Mansion (Which was still nightmare before Christmas), Autotopia, Monorail. We also ate at the Blue Bayou one of the nicest restaurants in Disneyland. We got the Kosher meals. They were excellent.

Around seven I went into "shock". My brain decided it didn't want to handle all the stimuli any more and said "fuck you" before shutting down. I was sort of zoned out for the rest of the evening.

We went to Downtown Disney whereupon I found this at the Legostore. Completely broke my budget for the trip. I was actually in budget too. Then I saw this and I was all I will not be able to find this anywhere else and I must have it.

So. Yeah. It was my shiny.

Hopefully pictures coming soon.

I don't care if it's intended to be a mindless smutfic. I don't care if the original canon doesn't have even a vague mention of anything remotely sexual. Nor do I care if it's an original character who did it. This character was a member of a set of characters famous for being good guys and following strict codes of honour despite suffering from beserk rages. These characters kill their defeated enemies, or on occasion let them go if they're sure they won't pose a future danger. They don't rape them!

Note to self: writing.com is a bad place to look for fanfic. Also must rethink friend's insistence that I should try writing porn to show people how it's done, because even if I do blush at writing so much as a kiss scene, I couldn't possibly do any worse than 90% of fandom.

Gen fic today

It’s new fic. It’s using our fandom’s classic trope so this is somehow understandable. But your story is trite. The plot is sucks, by OOC mostly. And stupidity.

Character A lost trust of Character B. Being brilliant and doing incredibly important work, A wouldn’t lose his sleep and ability to think during the day because of it. He wouldn’t stop eating and wouldn’t lose his wish for Nobel Prize even if you, dear author, think otherwise. Because, you know, A still has very important job, he doesn’t want to make mistakes by being exhausted and he’s generally too busy for long remorse.

A won’t be asking other people to teach him «fly in the straight line» and show him how to shoot a gun right just to please B and earn his trust back. For the most part because A learnt it year ago from the same unfortunate B!

And while I’m still on it, please, dear author, don’t make A stupid in addition to his behavior of 13-year-old-girl-seeking-approval-from-her-parents.

Please note, that I didn’t want to offend any 12-year-old girls on purpose.

EDIT due to mixed up english words. Please feel free to point out other mistakes to me ;).

...Clearly You Have No Grasp Of Bikini Wrestling Bylaws, Sir.

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/020869.html

Guy holding baking mix: Excuse me, where's the vegetable oil?
Employee: We don't have vegetable oil, but I think canola oil should work fine with that.
Guy, sarcastically: Oh, you think canola oil would work?

--Trader Joe's, 14th St

Alsome | Thumbs up | Thumbs down |
Link · Email · Quote this! · Del.icio.us · Posted 2009-11-07

So this whole discussion...
... made me think. Again, I'm asking myself: we all love the same thing, the same show, the same guys (more or less). Why can't we just the get the hell along? Why can't people be more tolerant? I'm not necessarily excluding myself here btw. Why do I get upset by other fans at all? I shouldn't give a flying fuck. And yet, I do care.

I don't feel bad for liking slash. I don't feel bad for seeing slash in this show. Why should I? It's my own personal interpretation. If other people don't see it? Fine. If other people see slash in shows where I don't? By all means, whatever floats your boat. Have fun. But what I don't like is when some think that their opinion is the only one that's valid in this whole wide word.

God, I was more or less amused at first, but now I am upset. Terrific.

Isn't it just peachy how I seem to piss off friends over really absolutely stupid things like that lately? For stating my opinion on my LJ and under a f-lock because I want to restrict this discussion to my f-list? Does that make me a bad person?

Well, this post is NOT f-locked. Fire away.

Current Mood: crappy

Words that never were true, spoken to help nobody but you.

Rules:
Reply to this meme by yelling "words!", and I will give you five words that remind me of you. Then post them in your journal and explain what they mean to you.

lolabobs gave me these words

Driving: I love driving, but the reason it's taken me so long to learn to drive is parially a money issue, but mostly because learning to drive was part of my therapy. I thought the best way to get use to travelling in cars was to learn to drive one. It worked so well. I much prefer driving to being a passenger (atm) and I love being in control. Funnily enough though, I didn't always want to drive. In fact it was only after my first lesson that I really developed a real liking for it.

Writing: I've been writing since I was about 13 or 14. I actually started out on a typewriter, writing Star Trek Voyager stories, before I even knew what fan fiction was. I would always have all these ideas for episode that I thought were great (but were really awful) and I thought writing them myself was better than just daydreaming. I moved on to writing Buffy stories after that and also upgraded to a word processor. I used to spend entire weekends writing almost no stop and I kinda miss those days. But writing used to be just something I did for fun and for my own amusment. It was only when I got into Uni and found other people who liked writing that I started working on my own novels. Even though I have such troubles completely stories and I'm way too critical about my own work I couldn't imagine not writing.

Sci-fi: My first memories of watching Sci-fi is renting out Star Trek: The Voyage Home every week when I was a kid. I used to watch Star Trek Next Gen before going to karate, but never got to see how any of them ended. And yet, I'm not a huge fan of sci-fi. Sure, I love Star Trek in all it's forms (not so much DS9), Firefly, Doctor Who, Red Dwarf and Babylon 5, but what has always attracted me to any TV show or movie is the characters. I do enjoy space battles and weird alien beings, but mostly I just like the way the characters interact with each other and their surroundings, the same way I like in other shows. But I will admit that the one thing I love about sci-fi more than any other type of genre is the fact that in some shows like Doctor Who and Star Trek, nothing seems impossible.

Ugerchucker: I have no idea why I like this word so much. I heard it on an episode of The Muppets Tonight Show and somehow it stuck in my mind. I tend to use it as a username because I can guarentee it hasn't been taken. One fond memory I have regarding this word is when I was on a protest march in London back in my first year in Uni and me and my friend Mel (Leigh) chanted it while we walked.

Cosplay: I've always liked fancy dress parties, but at those people tend to be less creative. Like going as school girls or wearing wings or devil horns. But at conventions the costumes people make are amazing and you can tell so much time and effort has gone into them. And when you're in cosplay it's almost like being a celebraty. When I was at Expo in May me and my friends could barely go five minutes without someone snapping our picture, it was great.

Now to work on Nano.

Currently Reading: Pride and Prejudice and Zombie by Jane Austin and Seth Grahame-Smith.

Current Mood: busy

Dear DCU Fandom
When your fic features Lois Lane as a domestic housewife that cooks breakfast for her husband and watches the kids all day, I become very alarmed, and hit the back button. I don't care if your fic is set in a continuity I'm not as familiar with, I'm pretty sure that Stepford!Lois is OOC everywhere.

ETA: Unless it is supposed to be creepy and other characters treat it as such, of course.

Current Mood: confused

Writer's Block: Opposites attract (sometimes)

What are your favorite web or mobile apps? Which ones do you use everyday?

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Being a musician always helps :-)

I'm not as concerned about politics or religion, although seriously doubt I could be with someone who was a creationist or a New Age crystal healer who claims to be a reincarnated Atlantean or a member of the Klan or someone who could only talk about makeup and clothes and was ultra-gossipy.

Most of all, though, she has to be able to put up with me and my neverending "hobby of the week" syndrome. Luckily I have found that person!

Life With Derek
If Derek Venturi wanted to be with Casey because he's in love with her, he would not be secretly plotting against her ex-boyfriends.

He also wouldn't poison and kill Sam. His and Casey's relationship was over a long time ago, and besides, Derek and Sam are friends. Derek may not do well in school, but I can't see him putting his super secret plans on the computer so Casey can accidentally find them when he breaks her laptop.

And really, why is Casey even with Derek in the first place and why hasn't she gone to the police? She even confronted Derek about killing Sam! She has proof on Derek's computer that he's done these things, and she's pretending to be happy with him?

And biology fail here: You cannot find out that you're pregnant one day after having sex! It's impossible!

Edit: To fix a typo.
Edit 2: Found another typo.

On The Road Again

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2009/11/on-road-again.html

So, as some of you know, Jen and I have picked up our bootstraps and our IV bags and gone back out to finish the tour. Our first stop was Kansas City, official state motto "The Home of Steak and Tornadoes." We got to meet about 200 awesome fans and a bunch of the folks from Andrews McMeel, our book publishers, came by. We even had a few "Super Fans:"

These three drove all the way from St. Louis, MO to be there. Talk about dedication! And check out those super-cool, custom shirts. They even brought us one. Here's a closeup of the back:

They explained that they made the shirts for the first tour before I got sick so the last few dates are wrong. I think maybe a red sharpie slash through those dates would take care of it in true Cake Wrecks fashion.

Of course, we did the cupcake wreckplica competition and here were our three enthusiastic winners:

Okay, two enthusiastic winners, and Logan. He looks really thrilled to be there, don't you think?

The dead rose petal wedding cake was the winner:

Crystal C. made the monkey/frog cake, complete with custom painted paper flotsam:

And Logan made a near perfect copy of the "I'm purrin for you" cupcake cake (ptoiee!)

Honorable mentions go out to Emily Spittler who made some of the most realistic icing poo I have ever seen:

And to Kathy Spittler (I wonder if they're related) who made the snowman from one of my all time favorite posts:

Fantastic, right? Well there's lots more where those came from, so check out the Kansas City Facebook Page for more great entries!

Our next stop was New York City, Official Motto, "Phenomenal Cosmic Powers! Iiitty bitty living space." We were at what is apparently the smallest Barnes and Noble in the world. (Maximum occupancy: 4, as long as they aren't wearing heavy coats.) That said, this was our view of the crowd:

There were actually people sitting on the floor in front of the lady in pink. Let's just say we were "cozy."

Though we only had six entries, we managed to find three champions:

The girl in the middle was even decked out with various wrecky accoutrement. Carrot earrings ftw!

The winner's cake was the nauseated basketball:

And then there was Cookie Monster (appropriate for this week's Sesame Street celebration):

And an also seasonally-appropriate Thanksgiving turkey, shaped like a football:

We actually had two bakers for the show. (Score!) The first was Perfect Endings Bakery and their cake was a Cake Wrecks Wreckerator Wrecker (Woo! Wreck-alicious!):

Complete with side panel signage misspelling:

And we also had Jacy Cakes who provided an awesome gluten-free book cake, which (appropriately) was dropped mid-transit, resulting in a Wreck Wreck. Despite the few bumps and scrapes, however, it still looked pretty sweet:

I thought it was cool that they even managed to nail the Andrews McMeel "U" Logo on the book spine:

And that's about it for the first two shows of Cake Wrecks - The "World" Tour, Part 2! You can check out more pics from the New York Facebook Page. Stay tuned for a wrap-up of Bethesda, Boston and Atlanta!

Also How to Get Banned from Nobu.

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/020868.html

Girlfriend: Learn anything new today?
Boyfriend: How to say "sexual offender" in Japanese!

--Central Park

Overheard by: lynn

Alsome | Thumbs up | Thumbs down |
Link · Email · Quote this! · Del.icio.us · Posted 2009-11-07

Endweek NaNoPost

http://pbackwriter.blogspot.com/2009/11/endweek-nanopost.html

We've hit the one-week mark for National Novel Writing Month, which is a good time to stop and take a look at how the work is going. With my normal work schedule I tend to work six days straight and use the seventh to look back, decide if I need to adjust something, and then take care of the thousand small details that I set aside during the writing process.

Some examples from my NaNoNovel: this week I had to coin about thirty words as I needed them to appear in the story; today I'll make sure that I'm happy with my choices as I update the novel glossary. I've brought in three new secondary characters; I'll update their character worksheets with bits about them from their scenes. I also like to keep a running list of tertiary or background characters who are named or described so I don't populate the story with any who are interchangeable or confusing with another.

Because I'm fond of several letters and tend to overuse them, one of my tricks with character naming is to make up two alphabetical lists of given names and surnames by letter, leaving open the letters I haven't used in the event I need another new name in the story. This prevents me from having a story overrun by J-named characters or those who all have surnames that end with -an, -er or -et.

My energy level and interest in my story is still in the high ranges, and I hope yours is, too. But if mine weren't, this would also be the day I decide if I want to keep going or scrap the WIP and do something else. No matter how carefully I plan -- and baby, I am the Queen of Planet Plan -- I really don't know until I've written a story for a week or two if I'm going to be able to move in and live in it for the next five to eight weeks. That said, once I make that one-week commitment, I will not stop until the story is finished, no matter how plodding or stressful the writing becomes. As much as I dislike working on a story that loses my interest halfway through, I hate unfinished manuscripts even more.

I'm glad I was able to write a little extra each day and buy myself two days off from NaNo to rest and think and reorganize my thoughts, but if something hits me this weekend that I need to get down on the page, I will write more. Even my days off aren't set in stone; I think you have to go with whatever the work demands (as long as it's reasonable.)

In my daily NaNoNotes book (to see larger version, click on the image) I've been jotting down some reminders on things I need to research as they come up in the story. There's a system of catering in India that uses metal buckets to deliver hot lunches to working people in the cities (and this is just a vague memory of something I watched once in a documentary.) My "D" note is a nudge to research that real-world practice in order to doublecheck the logic of the world-building I based on it. I'm also probably going to meet with one of my life-experts this weekend for lunch and a Q&A; I need to prep my question list so I can thoroughly interrogate him about what I need to know about his field of expertise and put together a convincing character who does the same thing. Life-experts are great because they can give you insight and behind-the-scenes info on their specialties that a writer can't usually find in books or other types of research (and while I've worked a lot of jobs, I've never been an animal control officer, a magician, a professional interior designer or the quarterback of a school football team.)

As you new NaNo'ers move into week two, you may find that the bright and shiny aspects of writing a novel are starting to flake off and it becomes a little harder to hit that keyboard every day. Until you reach the midway point (25,000 words written) these feelings may grow stronger and/or try to derail you. Don't let them. Once you hit the midway you begin to see the glimmer of the finish line ahead, and that will tug you through the last half of your writing experience. Your job now is to get to the place where that happens, even if it means slogging through the next seven days of writing.

Also, if you haven't knocked out as many words as you expected this past week, don't let that defeat you. I think the first week is really a time for you to settle into a writing routine of some sort, and develop good writing habits to carry you through the rest of your WIP.

So how do you guys feel about surviving the first week of NaNoWriMo? Let us know in comments.

The Adult Film Industry Will Be Happy to Guide You

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/020867.html

Cute Asian girl: I feel like I'm in high school again, except the person I'm dating is female and a really good kisser, and the guy I'm plotting to seduce is my professor. What's wrong with my life?
Friend: I think you need to either learn to live without penis, or realize that kissing men isn't scary.
Cute Asian girl: Kissing women is scary too! But I happen to really enjoy kissing Christina.
Friend: Okay, so if you want to do your professor so badly, don't you think he might be a good kisser too?
Cute Asian girl: There are so many things you can do with a guy that don't involve kissing...
Friend: Again... Get over penis or start kissing men!
Cute Asian girl: It isn't that simple!

--Uptown 2 Train

Alsome | Thumbs up | Thumbs down |
Link · Email · Quote this! · Del.icio.us · Posted 2009-11-07

Satuday 07 November 2009

STAFF ANNOUNCEMENT: can anyone with the password for the old Doonesburyc Photobucket account reactivate it please?

Tracy Chapman's Been Saying That Since 1988

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/020866.html

Bag lady to white guy whistling "When the Saints Go Marching In": Damn, nigger, that's my jam!
Guy: I'm... Ummm... sorry?
Bag lady: Yeah? Fuck you too!
(guy and girl walk away)
Bag lady: Shit, I gotta get outta this town and get my own place!

--L Train

Overheard by: The Music Man

Alsome | Thumbs up | Thumbs down |
Link · Email · Quote this! · Del.icio.us · Posted 2009-11-07