shoot them in the head!

please

2012-05-18T19:56:31Z

Guys. Please pray for my uncle. My mom just passed word to me that he's taken a turn for the worse and may not make it to Sunday. I'm about to quickly pack whatever I may need for the weekend, then I'm heading down to my parents' house to go up with them for the rest of the weekend to be there with him. I just talked to my dad and he said my aunt got a wireless router there, so I will have some internet, but I don't know how much I'll be around until whenever it is I get home.

Anyway. Please just pray for him? He's so far along that I know better than to pray for him to get better, but just please pray that it doesn't hurt?

bah

2012-05-03T18:34:50Z

I have no brain for RP right now.

Like, despite my entry suggesting otherwise on Monday, I haven't checked any games at all this week, despite my best intentions otherwise. Every time my mouse hovers over the IJ login thingie in the corner of my browser, to switch journals and check games, I just get a little "meh" and decide to do it later. Except later never comes.

Idek, I love all my characters, I love the games I'm in, I'm just ... so not feeling it right now, y'know? I think it's all the RL stuff finally catching up and all that, but ... idk. I have journal entries to write and a thread to respond to, and I just don't wanna. I got an email earlier this week from a couple people in one game, who had a plot and wanted to include me, and instead of going "HEY AWESOME, LET'S MAKE THIS WORK" I just made up excuses for why it wouldn't work to include my character in their log. Partly it was because of the "meh" that I'm feeling, and also partly guilt that if I did say yes, I'd be dragging down their log with my meh and the fact that I still have another thread to respond to in that same game that I haven't and GOD I JUST SUCK. :X

idk if I should just request a hiatus from that game until my meh goes away, or just quit and let someone else have the characters I've got there, or what.

I've also been at my computer at least all afternoon (aside from stepping away briefly to do household stuff), and I've had no inclination at all to sign into AIM. I've opened AIM, but then just closed the window without signing on.

I think I'm just going through an antisocial spell for whatever reason. :/ This icon. It is me right now. I try to give a damn about anything rn, and I just can't. :XXXXXXX

uh

2012-04-30T17:11:40Z

So, somehow this weekend turned into a massive black hole. Like ... I distinctly remember being at home for long periods of time, camped out on the couch with hubby, watching our marathon-TV stuff that we do on weekends (currently Stargate, Alias, and Farscape), and I had my laptop within reach, and stuff that I knew I needed to do (tags, journal entries, stuff like that), but ... I don't know how nothing at all got accomplished. Aside from baking a chocolate-cherry cake on Saturday afternoon, working Saturday night, and my parents & uncle coming over Sunday afternoon. Everything else is legit a huge blur of nothing I can remember. I'm not even positive how much I remember of the TV we watched, aside from Smileyface being gone (but thankfully not dead, at least) from Stargate (sadface) and Dr Daniel Jackson being back and non-ascended, and Sloane's wife being for-real-dead now on Alias, and you guys can just stfu about spoilers because THESE SHOWS ARE NOT RECENT. AND JUST SO YOU KNOW, VERBAL KINT IS KEYSER SOZE AND ROSEBUD IS HIS SLED AND DARTH VADER IS LUKE SKYWALKER'S DAD AND BRUCE WILLIS WAS DEAD THE WHOLE TIME.

...

>>

Sorry, what was I saying?

Oh yeah, apparently this weekend existed in a black hole. Or something. But on the plus side, I was complimented a bunch of times on my purple cowboy boots at work on Saturday.

And now today I catch up on games and also continue the ~dramaz~ that are taking over my current Main Family on Sims 3. (started out with a female sim, who started dating this one guy who, it turned out, had already had a girlfriend, but she convinced him to dump his current girlfriend and date her anyway, and then she got pregnant and decided she didn't like him anymore, so she was a single mum for a while to her little girl, and then she met this other guy who was more swoon-worthy, who also currently had a girlfriend, but she got him to break up with his girlfriend, too, and he married her, and they have a toddler now -- the first daughter is child-aged, though she's turning into a teen in the next couple of days -- but the husband's been cheating on his wife, first with his ex-girlfriend, and now with some random floozy he met while he was at a bar promoting his new movie, and in the same day he knocked up both his wife and his floozy, and then his wife came home from work to find him making out in the hot tub with the floozy -- neither woman knows she's pregnant yet, though right after the wife got home, the floozy excused herself to throw up in the toilet -- and then I had to go make dinner on Friday and haven't been back to the game since, so I'm looking forward to creating Moar Dramaz.)

... THIS IS MY LIFE WHEN I CAN'T FREAKING GET A JOB. I make up soap operas in Sims 3. xD

random pregnancy TMI

2012-04-27T19:23:05Z

So, uh. Hubby has discovered that his favorite thing about me being pregnant is BOOBS. I mean, I already had a rather decent rack (if I do say so myself). Not quite a balcony worthy of quoting Shakespeare from, but a damn good pair. But they're already a little bigger and firmer and a little bit perkier, too, and OH MY GOD HE LOVES THEM SO MUCH. xD It kinda makes me crack up a bit when he's like a little kid and going "hey, boobies! *squeeze*"

Semi-related: omg I'm still tired ALL THE TIME.

Completely unrelated: OMG DINOSAUR PETTING ZOO AT WORK NEXT SPRING.

life update

2012-04-20T03:38:40Z

So, idk how many of you are mutual twit-stalkers with me (@brandied_plum), but I tweeted a couple weeks ago about how my uncle was in the hospital, and the only damn reason he called to let us know was because he'd recently gotten a gun that, to be considered legal, required paperwork and a fee, and if he died, he wanted my dad (who would get the gun) to know that he'd already done all the paperwork and paid the fee, so, ... y'know, then my dad wouldn't have to do all that again.

It's taken me two weeks to get to where I can actually talk about this.

So, on Sunday the first, hubby and I went to a hockey game with friends (our team lost, boo, plus there weren't even any good fights on the ice!), so I didn't find out about any of this until the next morning, when I texted my mom about (of all things!) The Price is Right, which I was watching in bed because it still takes me a few hours to get up the energy (and for my stomach to fully settle) to get up and do stuff. Right after I texted mom, my phone rang, and it was her. My text had just alerted her to the fact that I was awake, so she knew it was safe to call.

My uncle, she says, called my dad last night. He lives a couple hours away in Goldthwaite, close enough that we visit him sometimes, and he occasionally actually comes over for holiday dinners with my family, if the weather's decent (he won't drive if there's a chance of rain). Mostly, though, he keeps to himself. It took me, like, a month to get a hold of him to let him know I was getting married, because he never answers the phone, even when he's in the house.

Anyway. So he called my dad last night to say that he's in the hospital, and told him about the stuff with the gun. So as mom's talking to me, dad's making plans to go up to the hospital in ... Temple, I think? and talk to his doctors. Which he can do, and they'll talk to him, because in addition to being listed as my uncle's next of kin, he's also his medical power of attorney.

The next evening (Tuesday), mom and dad come up here to go shopping with us for ceiling fans, and help us install the first one in the living room. Over dinner, they fill me in on what's going on: my uncle has pancreatic cancer. And it's at stage four, and it's metastasized, and at this point, the only thing to do is to make him as comfortable as possible as we wait for him to die, and the average life expectancy is six months. But my uncle's health has always been poor, so even though he's a fighter, we're ... well, we're basically all just playing the waiting game right now.

We also found out that the real reason he called my dad (after having been in the hospital since Thursday!) was because his nurse was badgering him. Every time she walked into the room, she asked him "have you called your family yet?" until he finally gave in. And then, when he did tell my dad, he asked him to NOT TELL THEIR MULTITUDE OF SIBLINGS AND MY BILLIONS OF COUSINS. Which, naturally, would not have gone over well with anyone, and would have resulted in all my aunts and uncles and cousins ganging up on my dad and probably killing him, too, in outrage for knowing and not saying anything.

Anyway, for those first few days, I focused on rage at that STUPID GUN for being the only damn reason my uncle called to let us know he was in the hospital, because rage is a productive emotion for me. I can deal with rage and anger. I suppose I really ought to be grateful to the gun, because without it he apparently wouldn't have had a reason to call at all, but ... that's a far less productive emotion. I don't deal well with sadness, and that's what being grateful to the gun (and the nurse, after I learned about her part) would have led to. Anger is something I can manage and still function.

After a few days, it was a lot harder to hold onto the anger, which let sadness creep in, which has made it harder than it has been lately to actually do stuff around the house: now, on top of Pregnancy Symptoms, I've been dealing with sadness as I come to grips with the fact that my uncle might be gone before Bug gets here. That now, on top of the stress they already have of trying to sell or lease their house, my parents also have the stress of doing all the paperwork and everything for my uncle (and/or dogging after him to do it) that he either can't or won't do. Things like getting him properly registered with the VA so that they can cover some of his medical expenses, and so that he can have a military funeral. Working with hospice (because he's adamant as hell that he won't die in a hospital, which I can understand).

My dad has already lost both of his parents (technically, three parents: his dad died when he was three, his mom died when I was thirteen, and his step-father died in 2006) and one of his siblings, my aunt Paula who died very recently. And now this.

It's just. It's a lot, you know?

Luckily for Bug, I've spent a lot of years working on my Zen, forcing myself into calmness when everything's so fucked up around me, because the last thing any of us need is for me to get all stressed about this and spike my blood pressure and send Bug into distress. I already had to go to the ER about a month ago because I couldn't keep anything- even water- down, and I was getting dehydrated. I've hardly put on any weight, because it's so hard for me to eat, and what weight I do put on, I lose almost immediately.

idk. I just.

I wish he'd called sooner. I wish he'd called just to say "Hey, I'm sick, I'm in the hospital." And not just because his nurse badgered him into it, not just because of that stupid goddamn gun.

And I really want him to meet Bug.

ATTN FELLOW PEDANTIC GRAMMAR NERDS

2012-04-18T01:29:37Z

OKAY GUYS. I need help, and the people I usually go to for second opinions on proofreading things are unavailable.

I'm proofreading the announcement piece for this summer's film series at one of my theatres. For the past few years, I've only done proofing on the film notes (a full page on one or two of the movies being shown, with background on the film, actors, and/or director, as well as an as-spoiler-free-as-possible synopsis), but this year I was asked to proof the announcement piece, as well, which lists all the movies, the times and dates they're showing (so I have an excel spreadsheet to cross-reference to make sure all the times and dates are correct), and a quick one- or two-sentence (sometimes three!) blurb about each movie.

And I'm having An Issue with one of them.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962, 123min/b&w) James Stewart (proofreader's note: SWOOOOOOOOOOOON), John Wayne and Vera Miles. Directed by John Ford. One of Ford's late masterpieces, this legendary film also includes two of Stewart and Wayne's finest screen performances. A senator, famous for killing a notorious outlaw, returns for the funeral of an old friend and tells his story.

The Issue I'm having is with the section in the blurb that I underlined. The way it's phrased, it sounds (to me) like we're saying Stewart and Wayne each had two of their finest screen performances in this film, though I think what it's trying to say is that each actor had one of his finest screen performances in this film, but that's a lot bulkier to try to fit into the blurb, especially considering space constraints.

ANYONE HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS / THOUGHTS / WHATEVER? OR SHOULD I JUST BE LESS NITPICKY AND LET IT SLIDE?

(Also, if you're like me and are an oxford-comma-loving pedantic grammar nerd ... I covered that bit with the major cast en masse at the top of my e-mail with Things To Fix.)

stolen meme because I are bored and need to update for characters but feeling particularly lazy

2012-04-15T19:50:00Z

You give me any character or characters that I have played (past or present) and I will give you 1-3 links or images of alternate Played-Bys for the character. I might even explain the choice(s).

Which reminds me I need to update my current character list with my endgamemods characters.

hee

2012-04-02T16:58:58Z

I'm kinda torn on who did April Fool's best yesterday.

On the one hand, Think Geek always delivers with fun new things, like the Admiral Ackbar Singing Bass, Hungry Hungry Hippos for the iPad, and the Keurig meals.

But on the other hand, Google's 8-bit maps (for NES) ("blow on the cartridge to fix the bugs" ... I REMEMBER THOSE DAYS) and their Gmail Tap were both hilarious, too.

But on the third hand (what?), insanes is pretty freaking awesome, too. xD And I totally have to write a novel about zombie kittens now.

All in all, I think yesterday was probably a pretty awesome April Fool's Day. :)

Oh yeah, and then there was this: @OMGFacts reported on the casting of Michael Cera as Finnick Odair in Catching Fire.

okay

2012-04-02T02:01:08Z

Who held me as Taylor Swift at insanes?

Because, like. I covet her hair and all. And I think she's mad adorbs.

But I'm totally not nearly as cute as her. And my hair is more frizz than curl, trufax. BUT I'M GIGGLING ANYWAY.

Also, I wanna see the application for me, dammit!

The Walking Dead question

2012-03-27T21:23:58Z

Okay so. Hubby and I are several episodes behind, and hubby's trying to make a case on waiting to watch them until closer to October, under the assumption that the season will end with a cliffhanger, so since we're at a not-entirely-cliffhanger-y point at the moment, it's easier to wait a few months to watch it so that we have less of a wait on a potential cliffhanger.

However, he uses twitter about as often as we get an extra day in the year, whereas I check it multiple times daily (shut up) and am wondering about some tweets I've seen, which makes me want to say "SCREW THE POTENTIAL CLIFFHANGER, LET'S WATCH RIGHTNOW."

So I have a question for those of y'all who watch The Walking Dead and are actually caught up on it.

OKAY SO. We're already past the point where they opened the barn and killed all the walkers as they're coming out and we've discovered that Sophia (who they've been looking for FOREVER) got herself all zombied-out, captured, and dumped into the barn, and Rick had to SHOOT HER IN THE HEAD ALREADY. ~~And then Carl proved to be a real Future Zombie Hunter by telling his mom that he'd've shot Sophia in the head himself. Good kid.~~

And then Glen and Rick went to town to find Hershel, who was drowning his sorrows in the boozahol when they met two other survivors and had to kill them, then got into a firefight with the other members of those two guys' group, and HOLY SHIT IT LOOKED LIKE IT HURT WHEN THEY JUST YANKED THAT ONE GUY'S LEG UP OFF THE POINTY FENCE OWWWWWWW. Then again, that's gotta be better than being zombie food, so.

And Lori crashed one of the cars when she hit a walker and freaked out on her way to town to try to find her hubby (and supposedly Glen and Hershel too, but we all know she would leave those two high and dry if she had to, to save Rick).

And now everyone is back at the farm, safe and ok. Shane and Andrea are being badasses who are all "we should have just left these guys and struck out on our own AGES AGO, with Andrea being all obviously "GOD SHANE YOU SHOULD BE IN CHARGE, NOT RICK, BECAUSE YOU WASTED SOMETHING LIKE A HALF-DOZEN BULLETS PROVING SOME KIND OF POINT TO HERSHEL, BTW, WE SHOULD TOTALLY HAVE SEX BECAUSE I'M NOT BEING OBVIOUS ABOUT IT OR ANYTHING." *cough*

ANYWAY. That's where I am. The last ep we watched was 2x09: Triggerfinger.

What I want to know is: what have Lori and Carl done in the last four episodes to earn twitter hashtags "#killLorialready" and "#killcarlalready"?

Also: does the season end in a cliffhanger that would warrant waiting on watching the remaining four episodes until the next season's started, or could we go ahead and watch them all now?

(Obviously, since I'm asking all this, I don't care about spoilers in the next four episodes. I'm sure that if I googled right, I'd find the answers to my questions on the internets anyway, I'm just lazy and this is easier.)

adventures in the ER

2012-03-23T02:16:56Z

So, if we're mutual twitter stalkers, you may've seen my tweets Tuesday night about this, but after seeming to be doing SO MUCH BETTER on the morning sickness front over the weekend (despite working 12.5 hours straight on Saturday and 12 hours on Sunday -- whether or not you regularly watch America's Got Talent, you should at least tune into the auditions this summer, especially the Austin auditions because those were filmed at MY THEATRE last weekend), I took a drastic turn and absolutely tanked this week. I threw up my morning sickness pill on Monday, but managed to keep everything else down the rest of the day, but the same could not be said for Tuesday. I spent pretty much all day curled up on the couch feeling like absolute and total shit. Absolutely nauseous and feeling like I wouldn't be able to keep anything down. I was afraid to even take my pills because I thought they'd just come right back up with a bunch of stomach acid like on Monday morning. I did manage to keep a very bland lunch of a can of beans and weiners in tomato sauce (literally the blandest thing I could find in the pantry that would give me protein), but that was the only success of the day. By 5:30, I couldn't even keep water down. At 7:45, I was throwing up with nothing even in my stomach. I managed to get my doctor on the phone, and she suggested going to the ER for fluids and IV zofran (the nausea meds I'm on), but she also said she'd call in a prescription for the dissolvable zofran to my pharmacy, to see if it might work better than the swallowables. Unfortunately, my pharmacy closed before the prescription could get in.

I really didn't want to go to the ER if we could avoid it. I hate needles. I hate getting IVs. I tried getting a glass of crushed ice and sucking on that, to see if just the little trickle of water would do better than straight drinking, but even that was making my stomach roll. But by a little after 9, I was just absolutely miserable, and I asked hubby to go ahead and drive me to the hospital. And luckily, I thought to grab a plastic bowl to bring in the car, because I threw up again, with nothing in my stomach, on the drive.

The ER admits based on need, not arrival time, and there were a bunch of people sitting around in the ER waiting room, and we had no idea how many of them were patients and how many were just waiting for people in the ER, but apparently walking in with a bowl full of stomach acid (we were so not leaving that in the car, it would've stunk it up; we brought it in to flush it down the toilet) was not enough to bump me up very far. I think we were sitting in the waiting room for about 30-45 minutes (most of an episode of That 70's Show and part of an episode of Friends) before they brought me back and got me checked in and put into a room.

The doctor explained that I seemed to be in a cycle that's hard to break out of: something about not getting enough nutrients, so my body starts breaking down fat, releasing ketones that make me start throwing up, so I continue not getting enough nutrients, causing more ketones, causing more throwing up. Or something. idek, I was sick and sleepy and all I knew was that I was miserable and he seemed to know what would fix me. So we needed to break me out of that cycle by pumping my body full of fluids. It took quite a while longer to get an IV put in, though it wasn't attached to anything at first, just a tube poking into the crook of my elbow. After yet another quite a while (according to my tweets, it was almost midnight), a nurse finally came in with two bags of fluid and a syringe. The first bag she hooked up to me was straight saline, to work on getting me rehydrated, and she poked the syringe in (zofran) at the same time. Once the saline bag was drained, she came back in and traded it out for the other, which was a glucose mixture to get some sugars / calories into me.

Also at some point in there, I think before I got the IVs, the doctor brought in a portable ultrasound machine so that we could peek in on Bug and make sure he/she was doing okay in there. By this point, we had been told that I would be in there for at least another couple hours, and it was already well past 11 pm. Hubby doesn't do well past 11, and he tried to just nap in the car until I was released, but that wasn't working. And since he had work in the morning, I suggested he just take the car and go home, and I'd just get a taxi. (Note, because the guys at work were giving him a hard time for this yesterday: IT WAS MY SUGGESTION. I TOLD HIM TO GO. I figured it'd be better for him to go home and get some sleep and for me to take a taxi than for him to sit in the uncomfy chair or the cold car and then drive us both home when he's practically falling asleep and getting us into an accident.) So, unfortunately, he missed the peek in on Bug (the ER was busy Tuesday night, so the doc took a while to get back in with the machine), but it was definitely comforting to see Bug wiggling around in there. Actually, Bug looked a lot like mommy, when I'm trying to get comfy in bed: wiggling all around and flipping back and forth. Still too early to tell gender, though.

Within about ten or fifteen minutes of being hooked up to the saline, and with the zofran working its way through my system, I was already feeling loads better. By the time they were getting ready to release me (2:30 am!), I was feeling like a completely different person. They called a cab for me, and while I was waiting, they brought me some apple juice to sip. The doctor and nurse highly recommended that I concentrate now on pretty much all day, continuously sipping on sugary water drinks. Not, like, chugging or anything, but just taking sips all day, to keep sugars in my system. So yesterday we went to the store and stocked up on gatorade and bought a couple bottles of vitamin water for me to try (Fruit Punch and Orange-Orange, both of which I can safely say are tasty), as well as some apple juice.

It was after 3 am by the time the taxi dropped me off at home, and I basically dumped my stuff in my study, refilled my water bottle, grabbed my pill bottle and phone, and crawled into bed still in the sweatpants and t-shirt I'd worn to the ER. Like, I didn't even bother cutting the ER admittance bracelet off my wrist. Hubby was, like, 99% asleep, but he still grabbed and squeezed my hand when I crawled into bed next to him, which made me go all "aww" and mushy inside.

These last couple days, I've definitely been feeling much better. I've also taken to starting the morning with just a bowl of hot chicken broth, to just give my stomach something easy to work with. And I've been sipping away at gatorade or vitamin water all day both days. And the best part, I've been keeping everything down, and I haven't been feeling queasy the last couple days. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the liquids and dissolvable zofran (we picked that prescription up when we were shopping yesterday) and everything help keep Bug and me doing well. I really do not want a repeat of the vomity day, or the ER visit.

So ... that's how my week's been going.

so.

2012-03-14T02:38:32Z

In case we're not facebook fronds, or mutual twitter-stalkers, I figured I'd share the update on that bug that's been keeping me down here, as well.

It's not really a bug. I've been lying through my teeth (fingers?).

(first picture! from February 21st.)
Or at least not the kind that you just get over easily. No, this is the kind that's going to keep making me sick for another few weeks (OH MY GOD MORNING SICKNESS IS THE CRUELEST MISNOMER EVER I'M SICK ALL THE FREAKING TIME), then continue to grow inside my body like the alien being it is for several more months, before forcibly removing itself from my body sometime around October 5th. And then I get to raise it into a hopefully fully self-sufficient human being.

And if I'm feeling really insane, I might even do the whole process all over again at some point. I'll probably have to forget how horrific morning sickness is before that happens.

But. So. THERE YA HAVE IT. S'why I've been so sick lately. :D

bah.

2012-03-08T22:07:52Z

negl, I'm getting kinda sick of pretty!Carrows. Amycus is described as "lumpy" and I think Alecto was described as similar to Amycus?

ugh

2012-03-05T03:16:57Z

In catching up with what I've missed in this past week of being anti-social due to being sick as hell ... I've decided that I probably should have just ignored everything that went on this week and started over afresh because SERIOUSLY PEOPLE WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS COUNTRY I LIVE IN.

Also: anyone know if there's a hit out on Rush Limbaugh yet? Anyone know who I could talk to about getting one if there isn't?

(Unrelated: how is Christian Slater still so pretty even when he's fucking nuts?)

ugh

2012-03-05T01:08:49Z

Still feeling like total crap. :/ But at least right now I'm up and at the computer, which is more than I've managed since, like, Thursday. Heck, I don't remember the last time I was out of bed before 11 in the morning.

I would v much appreciate this bug to run its course already.

On the plus side, I've been reading a lot and watching a lot of movies & tv, so I'm getting caught up on stuff, at least.

On the down side, I'm falling behind on games because I'm too braindead and tired to do anything. :/

Also, I'm watching Heathers right now. For the first time. idk why I've never watched it before. "Fuck me gently with a chainsaw."

/ random

baking question!

2012-03-01T18:24:42Z

I know a lot of you are goddesses at baking, so therefore, I HAVE A QUESTION.

I want to bake a cake. The kind out of a box. I AM NOT THAT AMBITIOUS. ~~Besides, I once screwed up cupcakes from a box, so I would like to master the from-a-box baking before I even think about attempting scratch-baking.~~

But I still have a question. I have two nine-inch circle metal pans, to make a nice little round layer cake with. Because we have a cake caddy that hasn't actually been used to store a cake since we got it, and hubby keeps printing out pictures of cakes and putting them in the caddy like "HINT HINT" and also layer cake is somehow yummier than one-layer sheetcake.

ANYWAY.

What is the best way to a.) keep the cake from sticking to the metal pans, and b.) get the cake out of the metal pans (once it's cooled, that much I know) without it all falling apart with the sad taste of failure?

Like, from watching my mom make cakes (she has silicone pans, though), I know other stuff, like how to even out the top of the bottom layer and spread frosting in there before you put on the top layer, and I'm totally awesome at frosting cakes. BUT THIS, I DO NOT KNOW. :(

Help me, baking goddesses? I will love you long time.

ok so

2012-02-24T17:27:40Z

I see all sorts of weird tumblr rp things whenever I do searches for my PBs for gifs and stuff.

But I think this really takes the cake:

Amelia Bones | Fifth Year | Ravenclaw l FC: Catherine Zeta Jones | Open

Uhm. Can someone please explain to me how on earth CZJ passes as a fifth year?

zombiephile @ 2012-02-21T20:56:00

2012-02-22T03:01:21Z

Why is Slytherin the home of the Mean Girls and the Bullies? "Those cunning folk use any means to achieve their ends" doesn't always translate into "Asshole."

If I wasn't so bad at "cunning" I'd be tempted to pick up a Slytherin who isn't a blatant outright asshole.

randomness.

2012-02-21T03:45:45Z

More personal headcanon time!

Timeturner Tales is one of the biggest bits of headcanon I have, having referenced it to varying degrees in six different games since 2007, even having played characters cast in it in three of those games.

Beyond just the information that I have listed in the wiki, I have all sorts of other headcanon for the game: general characterizations for some of the characters, for example. Like, I would totally at some point consider making a Timeturner Tales-based RP game with general quick descriptions of the various characters, if I thought that was something other people who aren't me might be interested in. Which I honestly kinda doubt.

ANYWAY.

For some of the characters on the show, I have a lot of ~thoughts~ on what they're like. And because I have all kinds of thoughts, why not share them?

Edward Hughes: Patriarch of the Hughes family, which is a family of business moguls. Edward is basically your typical Old Rich White Guy who knows for a fact that he's in the right (even when he's wrong) and greatly dislikes change. He's a purist, but not necessarily of the "KILL ALL MUDBLOODS" sort, more of the "they're just not as good as us" sort. He'd kind of sniff disdainfully at Lily Evans and Hermione Granger and say they're the exceptions. Muggles and muggleborns are just too damned progressive. He's basically in a lifelong feud with Whitey Sprecher. Not quite Montagues/Capulets or Hatfields/McCoys, but they do fight like cats and dogs. Mostly over whose family is better.

Jennifer Hughes: Edward's daughter and eldest child. She's your HBIC, the ball-buster who's out to prove that she's better than everyone else, whether they have a bat and bludgers or a couple of quaffles. She's never been married, never plans to be married, and has two children by two different men. She knows who each child's father is, but the respective men have no idea that they have children out there, and she's made damn sure that her kids can't hunt out their fathers. The last thing she wants is for some man to come in and stake a claim on any part of her life. She raised her kids just fine on her own, thank you, and they had plenty of father-figure to go around with their grandfather and uncle both living in the manor, too.

Henry Hughes: Edward's son and youngest child. He's less of a type-A personality than his sister is, but he can hold his ground against her. Growing up, Jen and Henry had some epic explosive fights. While Jen embraced the family business, Henry went into Healing, preferring to help people. Which has resulted in tension between him and his father. He's also a bit puristy, but he also has a fascination for muggles and muggle diseases and medical practices. Though he maintains that wizards are superior.

Callum Hughes: Middle child and second son of Henry (his older brother Daniel died in a cauldron explosion in 1990). Callum has been estranged from the family since the war, because they had opposite views. It was more Edward who kicked him out of the family than Henry, but he's still considered Persona Non Grata at the family estate. (Though Henry does visit him on occasion.) He works for Michael Whitaker, who's the resident illegal smuggler. He's in an on-again-off-again relationship with Michael's assistant, Sophie Roberts. And he's basically your Strong Silent Type, not really big on conversation or stringing multiple words together at once.

Audrey Hughes: Henry's youngest child and only daughter. Most of her family was known for being Ravenclaws, with a few Slytherins, but she was notable for being the first Hughes Hufflepuff in generations (and would have been roommates with Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, and Megan Jones had she existed in their reality).. She's basically the sweetheart of the family, the polar opposite to her aunt. She and Ryan Sprecher dated while at Hogwarts, which drove her grandfather (and his grandfather) crazy. She works the front desk at the town's inn (owned by her family), and she loves it because she's a people-person who likes being out there, interacting with people and helping them. She's more quietly non-purist than her brother is, but she's definitely not a purist like the rest of her family.

Holly Knight: A member of the Knight family, which has a very Ministry-connected history. She's a barrister who used to be retained as the Whitaker family's primary solicitor. She has three children: Todd (with Whitaker patriarch Michael), and Julia and Jocelyn (with her on-again-off-again husband). She lets her job come before her romantic relationships (and definitely before her marriage at times), but she'll always put her kids first, no matter what. She used to be best friends with Caroline Whitaker ... until Holly went and slept with Caroline's then-off-again husband and had the gall to have his child.

Todd Joshua Knight-Whitaker: Holly's oldest child and only son, and second son of Michael Whitaker III (patriarch of the Whitaker family). Holly had primary custody of him when he was growing up, so he didn't see his father all too often, though Michael insisted on being able to get to know him, and also insisted that Todd get to know his siblings (Mikey and Will), so he at least got to grow up knowing both of his brothers; he actually knows his brothers better than his sisters, since he went off to school when Julia was still little, and he's nearly 20 years older than Jocelyn. He works in the Ministry like the rest of the Knights, but it creates a little bit of tension for him: within his first few weeks at the Ministry, he was approached with the idea of going 'undercover' to out his father for international smuggling. He stood his moral ground and refused. While he believes in upholding the law, he doesn't want to bring down his dad.

Owen Knight: One of Todd's cousins. He's an Auror, and if Timeturner Tales existed in the same reality as HP, he'd have been roommates with Harry, Ron, Neville, Seamus, and Dean. He has a twin sister, Kate, who he would do anything for. He's basically the personification of his surname, your typical Knight In Shining Armor.

Kate Knight: Owen's twin sister, she works in International Magical Cooperation and would have been roommates with Mandy Brocklehurst, Su Li, Morag MacDougal, Padma Patil, and Lisa Turpin if they were in the same universe. In Sidelines-verse, right now she's getting involved in the Ministry's latest attempt to bring down the Whitaker family's smuggling business, and also recently started dating Ryan Sprecher. Which is resulting in the Love Polygon that my character Hugh was talking about, that is coming up on the show. She's a little bit job-obsessed, which is why everyone's like "... why are you dating Ryan?" but she's dating him because he's like her opposite, and she wants to prove that she can loosen up and have fun, too.

Richard "Whitey" Sprecher: The patriarch of the Sprecher family. He used to race Aethonons, though these days he just focuses on breeding and making sure his family keeps up their name in the races. He and Edward Hughes are engaged in a long-term feud over whose family is better. Whitey (who got his nickname when his hair started prematurely going white when he was 25) maintains that his family is superior to the Hughes family because they learn discipline from a young age from working in the stables as soon as they can carry buckets.

Ryan Sprecher: Oldest living grandchild of Whitey (his older sister Laina died during the war). If TT existed in the same universe, he'd've been roommates with Terry Boot, Michael Corner, Stephen Cornfoot, Kevin Entwhistle, and Anthony Goldstein. His father was a famous racer who's now retired, so Ryan's big dream is to surpass his father as a racer. And to have a fun time while he's doing it. He's all business in the saddle, but the rest of the time, he's a fun-loving guy who doesn't seem to take much seriously. He dated Audrey Hughes while at Hogwarts (to the disgruntlement of his grandfather and her's), and recently started dating Kate Knight. The big plot Ryan's currently involved in will probably result in him getting hexed by Callum Hughes right before a big race (because Ryan is going to see Kate meeting Callum for coffee, so he's going to take Sophie out somewhere that he knows Callum will see them together).

Jung Kwan: She's the same age as Ryan (and was roommates with Audrey Hughes; would have been roomies with Hannah, Susan, and Megan) and was adopted by Ryan's parents (her godparents) after her parents died in the war. In LOSLI-verse, she was romantically entangled with Callum Hughes, but the Sophie character in Sidelines-verse kind of took that position. She's basically completely anti-war, since losing her family.

Marie "Mouse" Sprecher: Cousin of Ryan, she was crippled in a riding accident when she was nine years old, so she is not attending Hogwarts, though she would be in her sixth year if she was. She's voiced by the squib daughter of her character's mother's voice actress. She's a quiet and introverted kid (hence her nickname) who still loves the Aethonons, even though nobody will let her ride anymore.

Glynnis Sprecher: Whitey's youngest child, she's Ryan & co's funloving spinster aunt. She's happy to help out around the stables and with the breeding, but she doesn't live for it like most of her family does. She's frequently found out and about, often attending theatre productions and the like. Whatever you want to consider your wizarding world's version of Vegas, you can bet your ass she'd be there, gambling and checking out the chippendales show and trying to stick her hand in one of the guys' g-strings.

Michael Whitaker III: The patriarch of the Whitaker family, who has a legitimate international shipping business to help mask his black market / smuggling business. The Ministry is constantly trying to shut him down. He's a family man, very protective of all three of his sons. He also has a tendency to stick it in any willing woman: his on-again-off-again wife Caroline (mother of his eldest child), his former barrister Holly Knight (mother of his second child), and his assistant Sophie Roberts (who miscarried what would have been his third biological child when she was attacked by people who wanted to take him down). And those are just the known affairs.

Caroline Whitaker: Michael's on-again-off-again wife. She knows about his affairs, and has had a few of her own. They fight like crazy, but they love each other, and they've been together more often than not for the last almost thirty years. She has a son with Michael, and another with Daniel Hughes (Callum and Audrey's older brother -- Caroline and Daniel had an affair shortly before Daniel's death; there's a subset of fans of the show who think that Michael had a hand in Daniel's death, though the writers and Powers That Be at the show refuse to comment on rumours, cough cough): Mikey with Michael, and William with Daniel (William has been officially adopted by Michael). She and Holly Knight were best friends when they went to Hogwarts together, and remained as such until Holly had an affair with Michael, which resulted in Todd. Now they're frenemies of the highest caliber.

Mikey Whitaker: Eldest son of Michael and Caroline. He would have been roomies with Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, Theodore, and Blaise if they existed in the same universe. He's less puristy than most Slytherins, thanks to his family using muggle means to help smuggle goods, so he's a bit more tolerant. He's got the unending ambition and willingness to do anything to get ahead that's typical of Slytherin, though. Although he currently only works on the legitimate side of his father's business, he has plans to take over the whole thing one day.

William Whitaker: Is Caroline's younger child, adoptive son of Michael Whitaker, half-sibling of Mikey, semi-half-brother of Todd Knight-Whitaker, nephew of Callum and Audrey, same age as Marie Sprecher, so he's a sixth year at Hogwarts right now. Of the Whitaker boys, he's the one who knows the least where he belongs in the world: Mikey's the obvious heir to the Whitaker family, and Todd's comfortable in the Ministry, and although he's technically also a Hughes, he hardly knows that side of his family, and isn't sure if he'd be welcome in their family business.

Sophie Roberts: Michael's assistant and Callum's on-again-off-again girlfriend. She was knocked up by Michael, but miscarried and nearly died in an attack on the family. Started dating Callum when he provided support for her as she was recovering from all that, but she doesn't particularly want to just become a "mob moll" kind of girl. She'd like to have children one day, but perhaps not with either Michael or Callum, she'd kind of prefer an entirely-law-abiding father for her future children. Unfortunately, she loves Callum.

... totally forgot to include this earlier, but I totally picture the narrator as being voiced by Morgan Freeman. Because he is the ultimate narrator.

2 memes in 1

2012-02-20T23:30:23Z

First, stolen from everyone:

PICK 1 OF MY RP CHARACTERS & I WILL TELL YOU:

1. Why I played this character.
2. My favourite moment in (game)canon for this character.
3. My favourite piece of headcanon for this character.
4. Something about this character which makes me laugh.
5. Something about this character which makes me cry.
6. One of your characters that I think would get along well with them.

(I reserve the right to not answer #6 if you don't have a character directory at your journal, because chances are I've forgotten which of your characters I know / I've played with. Also, plz specify which version of the character, if I've played a character multiple times.)

Second, because I'm bored and I've been in a ficcy mood while I've been Sick As Hell with this Bug That Won't Go Away:

I have 1019 songs in my current iTunes playlist. Pick a number between 1 and 1019, and I'll write a fic that's in some way connected to or inspired by that song. You can request particular characters, but I reserve the right to use different characters if the muse so strikes.

For the second meme, all fics will be posted in daiquiri, but I'll reply to your comment with a link to the fic when it's posted.

random

2012-02-18T00:02:53Z

I kinda want to play an adrenaline junkie.

Like, a character who'd do anything for that rush. Skydiving, extreme everything, walking right up to the angriest person in the world and insulting their mama, bullfighting, racing a sporty little car down a dark road with the headlights off and the pedal to the metal.

idek.

EXTREME CAT-PETTING.

EXTREME COW-TIPPING.

EXTREME BINGO.

music meme answers

2012-02-15T22:29:43Z

Haha, I totally forgot about this. >>

ANYWAY. The unguessed answers to the music meme:

5. Every time you call my name
I heat up like a burning flame
Burning flame full of desire
Kiss me baby, let the fire get higher
"Abracadabra" - Steve Miller Band (Sugar Ray would have been acceptable, too)

9. Look around everywhere you turn is heartache
It's everywhere that you go (look around)
You try everything you can to escape
The pain of life that you know (life that you know)
"Vogue" - Madonna (so, naturally, when she started off her Super Bowl Halftime Show with this song a few days later, I cracked up xD)

10. They come from the wrong side of the track
Born a breed apart
Can't tie em up, can't pin 'em down
Always clinging to some old star
They chase that restless spirit
Wherever the four winds blow
"Renegades, Rebels, & Rogues" - Tracy Lawrence

14. I understand about indecision
But I don't care if I get behind
People livin' in competition
All I want is to have my peace of mind
"Peace of Mind" - Boston

15. Gone are the days of rainbows
Gone are the nights of swinging from the stars
For the sea will swallow up the mountains
And the sky will throw thunderbolts and sparks
"Straight to You" - Josh Groban

20. I need another story
Something to get off my chest
My life gets kinda boring
Need something that I can confess
"Secrets" - OneRepublic

23. Code Monkey offer buy you soda
Bring you cup, bring you ice
You say no thank you for the soda cause
Soda make you fat
"Code Monkey" - Jonathan Coulton

Also, I am rather disappointed at how long it took anyone to realize I was rickrolling y'all in that meme. XD ty lipsofpoison for being the first one to say something.

whee

2012-02-15T03:15:47Z

Man. I haven't ficced in forever. But it felt good. Even if it was a vaguely depressing fic.

I oughta sit down and work on the ones that have actually been requested from my various prompt tables, lol.

I love you all

2012-02-14T21:06:04Z

opinionage, plzkthnx?

2012-02-14T01:59:20Z

Okay. This is more for The Project That Still May Or May Not Happen. Hey, I went to public school, busywork is what I do best.

Anyway.

Since applications seem to be something that everyone seems to disagree on, I was hoping to get some opinions on the application for The MWPP-era School Game That I May Or May Not Open, But Even If I Do Open It, It Won't Be Til August.

Because I'm keeping the details on the game very close to my chest, I put the application in my playing-around-with-code journal, and I removed the links on a couple of things (so if you see a link, assume it leads to something that's Further Information contained within the mod journal).

ANYWAY. If y'all could check out the application and lemme know thoughts on it -- am I missing something you think the application should have? Is there something in there that you just ABSOLUTELY LOATHE SEEING ON APPS, etc -- I would greatly appreciate it! :D ♥