Sunday, November 10, 2013

Remember, remember, the 10th of November.

It seems so weird to me that two of my most favourite people in the world share a birthday, but maybe it shouldn’t.

I’ve known them both for just about the same amount of time, but I’ve only met one of them in person.

That situation really needs to rectify itself.

BEFORE I move across the ocean and live near the one I’ve already met.

I’m just sayin’ that there are plenty of haunted spots in New England that are worthy of exploration…

At any rate, I’m lucky that they exist. (And that they share the same birthday so it’s easier to remember.)

——

I’ve been more active on AO3 lately, trying to take the edge off the boredom and make some new friends… it’s paying off in terms of exposure. In the past week, my Johnlock has gotten about 50 - 100 new hits.

Current stats, so I can compare in the future:

PARIS: 10 subscribers, 504 hits, 23 kudos, 2 comment threads, 3 bookmarks

HARTFORD: 10 subscribers, 433 hits, 23 kudos, 8 comment threads, 3 bookmarks

IT WAS ALWAYS THERE: 1 subscriber, 1018 hits, 11 kudos, 0 comment threads, 3 bookmarks

Friday, November 08, 2013

Text messages worth keeping

My favourite Buckeye fan: You know I love ya, ya crazy ass

Me: I think you meant to say crazy assHOLE. Wouldn’t want people to think I’m going soft in my old age.

Me: There’s a dick joke in there somewhere.

My favourite Buckeye fan: There’s always a dick joke in there somewhere ha ha

Me: Seeing how I’ve been writing pr0n all day, it’s more like there’s always a dick somewhere!

Me: Rule # 4 of NaNo: When in doubt, write pr0n.

Me: Susie sat on the edge of the bed and licked her lips when Johnny pulled out his ding dong. “Oh, baby, I want that in my mouth.”

Me: He pulled the chocolatey treat out of its wrapper and gently placed it in her mouth. “Oh, baby, that tastes so good!”
Ed. note: this was supposed to refer to the yummy Hostess Ding Dong.

Me: What? Food pr0n is still pr0n. LMAO.

Me: So, when I told my personal trainer about the food pr0n, she thought I was referring to a black guy. EVEN BETTER!

Yup. I’ve officially lost my mind. How many days left? *grin*

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

I may have bitten off more than I can chew

——

NaNo starts on Friday, and I have a very busy weekend so it’s not going to get off to a great start.

I think the Zodiac storyline is going to be difficult to pull off and maybe I should stick to the 30 Day OTP Challenge. I’m so frustrated by my indecision that it’s disgusting. I haven’t done a thing to prep more for the Zodiac fic other than doing some quick one shots and 221Bs to get back in the habit of writing Johnlock. ARGH!

——

In other news, I have two interviews tomorrow, Frankenstein (staring Benedict Cumberbatch!!!!!!!) that night, BU hockey on Friday, and Black Mountain Symphony on Saturday. PLUS another interview on Monday.

(When it rains it pours, but I’m not complaining.)

——

The title of the last entry (“I write because I don’t know what else to do with myself”) came from a diary entry I wrote during a very bad time. If you couldn’t tell, I write kind of balls out when I get all deep and personal. It’s worse when I write offline because I know no one will ever see that.

I love that line so much that I can’t even… It’s so true.

——

Off to go look for more jobs. And do laundry. And proofread “PARIS”. And research the two companies I’m interviewing with tomorrow.

I don’t think my life could get more exciting.

Monday, October 21, 2013

I need someone to brit-pick my damn blog!

The tube station is Tower HILL. TOWER HILL. Not Tower Bridge.

Dumbass.

Spent a good chunk of yesterday with a massive sinus headache. Couldn’t knit because of the hole in my finger, decided not to read fan fic because all it did was make me want to write more, couldn’t read an actual book because I couldn’t focus on the plot, couldn’t even really focus on the TV.

SO. FUCKING. BORED.

About the only useful thing I did was skim a London tour book I had looking for creepy spots to place bodies. I found quite a few.

It’s really a shame that we’re not going to London before NaNo, because I’d really like to check out the body dump sites for myself.

(HI, US GOVERNMENT! Now that you’re done being children and have time to get back to more important things, are you loving my google searches on writing gay sex, the differences between a .9MM handgun and a .38, blood spatter, knives, serial killers and best places to dump a body in London yet? You’ll notice, too, that I’ve been googling ways to leave the country. I’m sure you’ll put two and two together and get seven, but I wouldn’t expect any less of you morons.)

——

side note: tumblr claims ‘Merlin’ is more homoerotic than ‘Sherlock’. With lines like “You’re not going to put it in my mouth!” “I am, and you’re going to swallow!” I can see why.

——

Speaking of leaving the country… woke up this morning excited to continue my UK job search. I’m also going to look into UK colleges/universities and research MBA programs today.

I have a friend on FB (a guy I knew during my entire journey through the Manchester public school system, but that’s really as far as it went) who is fascinated by my expat-ing progress. (Yeah. I made a word. Deal with it.) I’ve been discussing it with him pretty in-depth and it’s kind of cool to be able to have those discussions with him.

But I don’t bring that up to talk about becoming an expat, because really, it’s all right there in the first sentence of this section. I bring it up because out of my 91 (92 once I add N’s wife) friends on FB, most of them are people I was - at best - acquaintances with. Now through the magic of the internet and bipolar meds, I’m able to form lasting relationships. REAL friendships. I keep my FB friends under 100 on purpose. If you make the cut, it means you’re really important to me. (Aaaaaawwwwww! Schmoop!)

I think it’s Facebook’s only real value to me right now because I’m losing interest in being on the site all day every day. (Proof that I’m ready to rejoin the living and get out of this depression?)

——

While we’re talking schmoop, I had some pretty intense Marlas dreams last night. Nothing but fluff… lots of fluff. Couch cuddles and top of head kisses. Bears polar and the seven dwarfs. Sitting around the portacabin making fun of Carolyn. Playing charades with Arthur (even though we all know that’s a TERRIBLE idea.) Just being cute.

Dog, I miss them. A lot.

I really had no idea how much I missed them until they were gone.

I don’t want to waste all that time I’ve spent doing the research for the casefic, but I’m really leaning towards doing the 30 Day OTP Challenge for NaNo.

Anything to spend more time with my boys…

Friday, October 18, 2013

Frustrated

Two immigration solicitors out of the four I emailed responded. The news is not good.

One will charge us £200 ($325) for an initial consultation, with that being used as a “deposit” toward their fee if we engage their services. No idea what is included in the consultation, but I will send an email to ask. (I mean, I pretty much knew the answer before I emailed them, so what is there for them to consult me on?)

The other will charge us £750 ($1,215), payment due in full. This one basically told me I was S-O-L as dad would say, or shit out of luck if you don’t speak Charlie. I need to have exceptional talent, a relationship connection with UK/European nationals, or UK ancestry if I had a UK grandparent. I called N my “brother” once to use it as an excuse to get out of work for his wedding, but I don’t think being friends for 15-ish years creates a familial bond no matter how good a friend he is. My grandparents are American, Ukrainian and Polish, so again, I’m screwed.

I’m just going to keep applying to jobs in the UK. I probably don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell, but you never know.

*sigh*

(The only good thing out of all this? I can finally make Polish jokes and not feel bad! WOOO! This is a VERY good thing because our neighbours are partial to holding Polish yard sales.)

——

The first chapter of Hartford is live on AO3. Six kudos so far! I’ve been debating putting it on FFN because their RSS feeds for searches are still broken, but I think I might do that today.

I had a bad night last night - I was so antsy and restless and I couldn’t figure out why. Finally realised that it was because I didn’t need to obsess over the entire trilogy any more. Hartford is locked down and updates are scheduled, Paris is good, and the rewrite of Zurich’s ending surprised me with its awesomeness.

Now what?

I can’t start working on my NaNo outside of research and planning, so I think I’m going to go with the Case!Lock I’ve already started because researching it will keep me busy for the next few weeks. I reread the beginning and I think I’m going to delete it and start fresh. Besides, the idea is to start with nothing and go from there. (I may keep the Mystrade line, but I’m definitely not in love with the rest of it anymore. It starts too abruptly and I learned my lesson with Cabin Pressure - I cannot start in the middle and try to write around it. It doesn’t work for me.)

——

Working on the Christmas present for my trainer has been fun. The socks are knitting up fast because I’m not doing any sort of pattern. The yarn is self-striping and the stripes aren’t very thick, so I think I made the right choice to just let the yarn speak for itself.

I ended up getting a splinter because I’m working on bamboo knitting needles and my finger bled because I really had to dig it out. I’m not sure how I’m going to knit with a big hole in my push-the-needle-through-the-yarn-finger, but I’m going to have to think of something.

——

Figured out a way around my Netflix dilemma: look for movies online and then search for them on the TiVo. I found two acceptably crappy ones to watch yesterday, so life is back to being tolerable.

For now.

——

Guinness is back at the vet. We think he sprained his wrist. This is now the second time he’s injured his left front leg from playing too rough.

I swear, he’s going to put us in the looney bin… or the poorhouse.