Now feeling: indescribable

Title: Wait, What?
Author: Sofie K Werkers
Fandom: ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com/Angry Video Game Nerd
Pairing: Nostalgia Critic/Angry Video Game Nerd
Warnings et. al.: Contains smut of the straight variety, rather a lot of foul language, probably more Britishisms than is technically healthy, and several times your Recommended Daily Allowance of injokes. Also a complete lack of beta reader.

Summary: "I AM A WOMAN— wait, that's not right."
Date: 21 - 29 June 2009
Archive: Please ask.
Email: femgeek@gmail.com
Feedback: If you like this story, please let me know. If you don't, please let me know why not.

Disclaimer: These guys/characters do not belong to me, and also, this is fiction. You know, that thing where I make things up out of whole cloth? Yeah, that. Also, please don't kill me.

Dedication: To aunt_zelda and emeriin. And by "dedication" I mean "blame". And by "blame" I mean "A plague on both your houses! Sob."
Author's Notes: So the thing about being in a fandom of three is, if the other two have posted fic, you're kind of obliged to take a turn. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it, dammit!) And then you have to join the Fannish protection Programme, change your name, and live out the rest of your sad little life hiding from the mob.

Now feeling: sick

I was meaning to post about my primary school reunion, which I went to yesterday, but I came down with a horrible cold that's trying to morph into bronchitis. Augh. OTOH, it's a good excuse to indulge in childhood cold remedies inviolving copious amounts of sugar and alcohol. Grog: the cure for what ails ya. Arrrrr!

Now feeling: awake

For my own reference, and so people can beat me about the head and shoulders for encouragement should anything take their fancy, current WiPs and bunnies:

• Magical knitting novel thingie;
• Firefly huggin!drabbles;
• Firefly wingfic;
• MCR Au in which Gerard does reverse graffiti and other people do things like guerrilla gardening and it's all just too precious for words;
• FBofW "fixit fic" weirdness.

Now feeling: annoyed

Okay, seriously, universe, this has ceased to be amusing. First my USB stick eats the two folders I use on a regular basis (the one with my quotes and to to files, and the one with ALL MY WRITING) and now it pretends to be COMPLETELY EMPTY altogether? FUCK YOU AND ALL YOUR OFFSPRING! As if I was't annoyed enough at having to re-adjust to a Belgian keyboard, dammit.

And of course it pulls this shit after I've smished the desk and table that needed smishing so now I have nothing to take out my annoyance on, dammt.)

Now feeling: aggravated

Apparently the way to get my brothers to do something is to start doing it myself and show them up in front of their friends. Sigh. (I am Melle, contstructor of things, attacher of fridge handles, disassembler of Large Unwieldy Desks! (Melle SMISH!) FEAR MEEEE!)

Other things going on in my life: knitting wristwarmers and OMG SOCKZ, poking at the Wingfic and the bunny for the bandom AU ... thing that's rattling around in my brain, as well as the magical knitting novel. Which is a novel about magical knitting, not a magical novel wot knits, cool though that would be.

I've also been keeping up with my blogroll, and, um. Is there a brain-stealing pickpocket (pickskull?) on the loose in the Republican party or something? "Community organiser" is a bad thing now? The hell? (Yes, I know it's dog whistle-ese for "uppity negro rabble-rouser", but still. They had to have known that was gonna get mocked all to hell and back.)

So I was reading a whole mess of fic yesterday, and came across a meme that I’m going to viciously steal in an attempt to get back to writing. Because I have a block right now about writing, but that doesn’t mean I can’t tell stories, because lord, can I ever. So.

Ask me to tell you a story. Any of my fandoms, crossover, or AU will work, pretty much — like, “Tell me about that time MCR were actually all girls and Frank Iero was the hottest lesbian ever,” or “Tell me about Legolas and Gimli sailing off into the sunset together,” or “Tell me about that time Lee Jordan became Minister of Magic,” which is technically Jezz’s story, but whatever. Hit me!

(Fandoms I’m in/have been in, for reference and in no particular order: Harry Potter, Buffy, Metallica, Guns ‘n Roses, Popslash, My Chemical Romance, Firefly, Lord of the Rings, the new BBC version of Robin Hood, (World of) Warcraft (it is too a fandom, hush), Space: Above and Beyond, assorted comic books, mostly X-Men and Cable&Deadpool, plus some Boostle, new Who, and, um, several I’m probably forgetting. And hell, I can probably tell you a non-fandom story too, if you want. Seriously, hit me!)

Crossposted from Sleepless in Scotland. Comment here or there.

Melle: I am having some very random but intense fandom-love. Like, love for fandom at large. I do not know where this came from, but I keep wanting to write it a love letter.
Anna: DO IT!

So, yeah. Blame Canada for this:

Dear Fandom,

Hi, you probably don’t really know me, because I tend to just kind of hover around at your edges most of the time, lurking in the shadows, but after more than ten years, I figured I should actually come out and tell you how much I love you.

You’ve made my life so much better, given me so much — the ability to actually socialise, a ton of friends, language skills, EVERYTHING. I would not be the person I am today without you, so yeah. Thank you!

I hope we get at least another ten years, me in the corner and you doing your awesome thing, with your porn and your smarts and your PEOPLE who are AWESOME and your community and your wank and your LITTLE FACE! :D

I am so looking forward to growing old with you, I can’t even tell you.

Lessthanthree,
Melle

Crossposted from Sleepless in Scotland. Comment here or there.

(Note: I know Emma Goldman didn’t actually say that exactly, but that’s not gonna stop me from using it. I like the sentiment anyway.)

I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I think I kinda love 4-chan right now. They’ve demonstrated the organising power of the internet, and hopefully will show a whole generation that protesting and activism can be not only fun, but even damn hilarious. (In some cities, they rickrolled the Co$, people! Awesome!)

Some related links:

• Wikipedia explains 4-chan — scroll down to section 2.1 and beyond for info relevant to this whole thing.
• Wikipedia explains Project Chanology for an explanation of what went on yesterday.
• Wikinews article on yesterday’s protests.
• Photos and reports, in which, unfortunately, the words “fag” and “gay” are liberally strewn around as slurs. This would be the part of this that makes me hideously uncomfortable, yes.
• Cleo has a sampler of the above.

In conclusion: I don’t agree with everything they do or say, and again, the “fag” slurs make me not want to participate, but the effective use of the internet as an organising and focussing tool for activism? Awesome.

In conclusion:

[ETA] Via Cleo: deathboy says:

I can’t remember the source, but there’s some sci-fi story I’ve read where the conclusion reads along the lines of “They could withstand the fiercest of our weapons, they could defeat us intellectually, but in the end, I think they died of sheer culture shock” - the looks on the faces of the scientologists when faced with a crowd in which a lone voice shouts:

“I HEAR TOM CRUISE HATES MUDKIPS!”

(all) “NOOOOOOOOOOO!”

… how do you fight that?

How do you, ideologically speaking, defeat a crowd that is enthusiastically demanding that you “DO A BARREL ROLL! DO A BARREL ROLL!!” ?

Which is sort of what I was trying to get at, really. It needs balancing with actually getting one’s message across, but announcing you’re gonna protest for a specific reason will make it clear to the target/audience what they’re there for, and every protest I’ve been to has had its share of cryptic signs — the message still came through. Sure, the rickrolling and the Fresh Prince rap will confuse people, but they’ll be more likely to come and ask if thge protesters are obviously having fun. (And no, I don’t get the Fresh Prince thing either. Huh?) [/ETA]

Crossposted from Sleepless in Scotland. Comment here or there.

Dear Frank Iero,

Please cease and desist being a FUCKING HOT LESBIAN, you fucker, and UNHAND MAH GAY!

Distressedly yours,
Melle

(Seriously, that haircut couldn’t be any dykier if it put on a strap-on and fucked your girlfriend. Frank is pretty much my Ideal of Hotness in that picture and I WANT HIM TO STOOOOP! D: )

(Oh great, just when I could’ve really used my “inappropriate lusting” tag, I’ve gone and deleted it.)

(Oh hey, while I’m up, anyone want to point me towards a good starting point for finding Ray Toro and/or Bob Bryar-centric picspam and/or fic?)

Crossposted from Sleepless in Scotland. Comment here or there.

I should probably find a more constructive outlet for my history geek tendencies, because right now I keep thinking someone ought to make a website or a wiki about the cultural history of the internet and/or fandom so I can go and get all nostalgic about it. Something like this, only more so, and mentioning things like “Remember when Hotmail wasn’t yet owned by Microsoft?” and stuff like that.

… I kinda can’t wait to be old and crab at the Kids These Days about how I remember an internet before LOLCats and say things like “Now, back in the days when YahooGroups was still eGroups, but after OneList …” I have issues, I know.

Crossposted from Sleepless in Scotland. Comment here or there.

My life feels all disorganised and argh. This is, I suspect, in large part because my flat is an unholy mess. I’ve been meaning to clean this weekend, but when I switched on the boiler yesterday, it quickly became apparent that there was something wrong. Normally, even in the coldest dead of winter, it takes an hour, max, to heat the water up to near-boiling. This time? Not so much. Three hours later, it was still tepid at best — warm enough that I can tell it’s doing something, too cold to take a shower with or do the dishes. And so i should call my landlady, except I need to clean first, before she comes out, because I can’t let her see the flat like this. O HELLO CATCH-22! *headdesk*

(Okay, I’ve been clearing up at least, and dusting and stuff, and will do the dishes by boiling water in the kettle, but it’s gonna take a while, and I’ve not been able to take a shower in two days now. I normally shower twice a day, so now I feel icky like whoa.)

In happier news, Gerard Way needs to be my secret gay boyfriend. (Starting at the 0:57 mark.) No, seriously. (Around the 1:50 mark especially.)

Crossposted from Sleepless in Scotland. Comment here or there.

• LOL80’s: A Picture Thread
  (tags: funny 80s)
• LOLRockers?
  (tags: funny lolrockers)
• the Laugh-Out-Loud Cats - a photoset on Flickr
  (tags: lolcats funny)

Crossposted from Sleepless in Scotland. Comment here or there.

Small housekeeping note: I’m no longer posting writing-related posts to mounthelicon, nor crafts-related posts to craftybrain, because I want to uniformise (shaddup, it is too a word) the “mirrors” at all four (… for now, until GJ goes down completely) LJ-clones.

Neil Gaiman is made of awesome:

When I’m not writing the novel I feel guilty. And even though blogworthy things turn up (I could write about the thaw right now, and the sunshine and the bees; three days ago a really funny entry on what to do when your assistant hands you twenty pounds of whole and uncut cow liver for your dog that she was given at the local meat packing plant didn’t get written, and yesterday I composed an entire thing in my head I didn’t write down about Why The People in Torchwood Season One Are All Too Stupid To Live — including the astonishingly puzzling incident where someone in 1941 has written something down on paper with black ink (a medium that will last legibly for centuries if kept out of the sun), and, unaccountably worried that ink on paper will fade and become unreadable in time, first she takes a prototype Polaroid photo of it, and then writes some of it in blood and puts it in a coffee can in a damp cellar, because these media will still be readable seventy years later. Why she didn’t make a model of it out of chocolate as well, I will never know.)

Dear Mr Gaiman: Please be my BFF and come for a sleepover with Anna and I? We’ll paint our toenails and braid each other’s hair and talk about boys! It’ll be ace!

In unrelated news, I should stop looking at baby!Metallica (and baby!GnR) pictures. I have ceased believing these people were born male. I sorry, but there’s long hair, and then there’s Farrah Fawcett hair, and baby!Lars has the latter. Also, I now have a theory that Axl Rose was raised in some weird-ass commune that shunned trousers, or something, and wasn’t introduced to the very concept of them until 1992 at least. (Thong-and-chaps, kilts, tight shorts, tights-and-red-patent-leather-codpiece — anything but trousers, apparently!)

(”Why were you looking at these pictures in the first place?” I’m having a fandom relapse, okay, shaddup. DUN JUDGE MEEE!)

Crossposted from Sleepless in Scotland. Comment here or there.

• Morphases - More Faces
  Awesome tool for creating lifelike images of characters, etc.
  (tags: resources writing)
• McA direct
  Local yarn shop.
  (tags: knitting yarn)
• Fake LJ-User Tag Generator
  Always comes in handy.
  (tags: resources)
• Chocolate Fountains warehouse
  Online shop that sells Callebaut chocolate.
  (tags: stores)

Crossposted from Sleepless in Scotland. Comment here or there.

My internet is being patchy, so I spent most of the weekend watching TV. I now remember why I don’t usually watch much TV. Gah.

(I was also reminded of how much I want fashion to go on a Sixties retro kick so I can rock outfits like this . I have legs to show off here, and I bloody well can’t do it in what passes for a miniskirt these days!)

So, uh, yeah, still playing catch-up on blogs and friendslists, but I will get there! I promise!

Crossposted from Sleepless in Scotland. Comment here or there.

I went back to skip=100 and gave up — if I’ve missed anything important, smack me. (Haven’t been well since Saturday. Blech. Feeling mostly better now, though.)

I’m trying to get (back) into writing more … well, if not serious, then at least coherent stuff, and as part of that, I’m trying to post something at Feminists Don’t Bake Bread every Tuesday. Yesterday’s was actually posted early this morning, but here you go: The Cost Of Femininity.

I’m thinking of re-integrating my writing and craft journals into my main LJ. Hrm.

Crossposted from Sleepless in Scotland. Comment here or there.

So last Saturday, my last day in Belgium^*, my mum informed me that I should “have a look through that one shelf of books” because anything I didn’t explicitly select for keeping was going to go. My brother and I went D: at her, because while neither of us care much for material possessions, we both have this sense that throwing away, or even giving away, books is Just Plain Wrong. I then went D: some more when i realised that what was on this shelf were a whole lot of children’s books.

“But. You can’t,” I said, aghast. “You can’t get rid of any of them.”

“Most of them are falling apart, or they’re stupid commercial series we never got more than half a dozen of,” she pointed out. “And there simply isn’t enough room for all these books.”

I conceded, because she did have point. The first thing one sees when one enters the house is a room full of books. It used to be the shop, long ago, and 70-80% of the walls are taken up by bookshelves, floor to ceiling. There’s more bookshelves on the upstairs landing, and a whole lot of books in boxes still. Some of these were inherited; there’s a whole shelf of truly magnificently old books that came from great-uncles on either side of the family, and most of the boxes came from my late uncle — and that’s with the majority of his books stashed at my gran’s, and with my paternal grandparents’s books mostly at my dad’s, and if you’re getting the impression that my family has book-loving genes, you’re absolutely correct^**.

So I went through the books. Some of them were easy enough to part with, like the Disney books for kiddies and similar things. Some broke my heart, but I was strong and parted with them anyway — these included a bunch of books for very young kids, which I had fond memories of but which, really, there’s a gazillion of these kinds of “Up/Under” books. Some I had to admit really were too beaten up to keep, although I still put some of those apart and made my brother decide on them, because I like making others make the hard decisions for me.

But there were some that I just couldn’t part with, because there is just no way I could ever find them again for less than an arm and a leg, and I’d want to read them to my future nieces and nephews. (The wonderful children’s books by Jac Linders, with illustrations by Lie, for example, which are so very Seventies and yet so very fabulous and yeah.) Still, I think I saved about half a dozen, and left about the same number for my brother to decide on, and I know it was necessary and for the best but I’m still sad about the ones that had to go.

Books: They’ll break your heart. :(

^* My mother’s habit of asking things at the last damn minute, often when people are about to walk out the door, is a frequent source of frustration for the rest of us. This, at least, was a relatively mild example. Sigh.
^** When my paternal grandparents died six months apart, a few years back, it took nine (sets of) children(-in-law) plus a handful of grandkids several weeks to clear out the house, mostly of books. There were books in every room, often stacked along the walls for lack of shelves to put them on, and keep in mind that this house had a room for each of the nine kids, at least one spare bedroom, a master bedroom, an office, and an attic, and there were still books stashed in various other places downstairs. If I ever get a house, this is how I will end up. I have seen my future, and it is books.

In more cheerful news, my Ravelry invite came! I can now be find there as femgeek, for those of you who’re also there. (For those of you who aren’t, and have no idea what this is about, please ignore the yarn geek in the corner. Ahem.)

I’m trying to keep riding this wave of determinedly-doing-stuff I have going and, now that my flat is largely clean and my website is revamped, and my flist is reorganised and culled, the next thing on my Internet To Do List is to cull and reorganise my bookmarks. I’m removing comics I don’t really read anymore, and blogs/websites that do nothing but annoy me anymore. This is where you come in.

This is your chance to pimp links at me, although I’m going to be slightly picky.

Comics:

• Gaming comics preferred, especially WoW-related ones.
• Alternatively, amusingly recognisable comics about Tech Support and/or call centres.
• Alternatively alternatively, historical stuff, boytouchig a bonus.
• I’m … not overly fond of a lot of anime-style drawings.

Blogs:

• I’m especially looking for feminist and feministy blogs, but also knitting/crafts blogs, or anything else interesting.
• Of the feminist stuff, I’d prefer WoC, older (”") women, disabled women, and (gender)queer/trans blogs.
• No radfems. I’m serious. (Too much exposure to the transphobia in radfem circles this past year, can’t stomach it at all anymore, even for posts I might have liked or even loved, sorry.)

Other:

• Oh, hell. Hit me. :D
• Oh, wait, any website with good info about he Renaissance and/or the history of knitting would especially be welcome.

Crossposted from Sleepless in Scotland. Comment here or there.

The thing about DMs is, because they last so damn long, some time between new pairs, I always forgot how painful it is to break in a new pair. Owie. :(

Work is busy. I’m nevertheless busy playing pretty flash-based games. My favourites are Winterbells (current high score: 2,845,220) and Bubble Bees (Current high score: 9,000-odd). Warning: do not click on that link if you don’t have at least an hour to lose.

Meme time! From Munchkinott:

• Leave me a casual comment of no particular significance, like a lyric to your current favorite song, your favorite kind of sandwich, or maybe your favorite game. Any remark, meaningless or not.
• I will respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.
• Update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
• Include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in your own post.
• When others respond with a desultory comment, you will ask them five questions.

Answers behind the cut.

Crossposted from Sleepless in Scotland. Comment here or there.

Happy New Year’s! Mags got me dunk. Or at least her party did. I’m going to be so emarassed in the morning. And missing my tupperware. Um. I mean. HI! :D

Crossposted from Sleepless in Scotland. Comment here or there.

Happy New year’s! Mas got me dunk. Or at lear her party did. I’m going to be so emarassed in the morning. And missing my tupperware. Um. I mean. HI! :D

Crossposted from Sleepless in Scotland. Comment here or there.

Robin Hood double length finale intant reactions — spoilers behind the cut. Warning: Incoherent rambling ahead.

Crossposted from Sleepless in Scotland. Comment here or there.

Am home safe, despite Belgium’s apparent efforts to kill me dead. More details later, after I’ve unpacked, cleaned, watched Robin Hood and taken a bath.

Crossposted from Sleepless in Scotland. Comment here or there.

I’m about to leave for the airport to catch my flight to Belgium. I’ll be back in Edinburgh next Sunday.

If I owe you e-mail or comments, I’ll try and get to them from there, but I may be scarce for the next week. I’ll probably get online a few times, but I may well be incommunicado if only because I can’t type on Belgian keyboards anymore.

Crossposted from Sleepless in Scotland. Comment here or there.

E dropped by yesterday to give me presents, because she rocks. I got Lush (bweee!), and an Official Robin Hood Electronic Recurve Bow^TM (bweeehehehehe my co-workers won’t know what hit them :D), and the Best! Hat! Ever!

… Please ignore the fact that I look demented in that second picture. *cough* Also, State of the Hair, six months and two days after shaving:

Also, a not-that-small gripe brought on by surfing YouTube for Dubliners vids:

Dear YouTubers,

Carrickfergus is not, in fact, a song originally written by Charlotte Church. No, really.

Twitchingly yours,
Melle

Link from Anna: Sock It To Me: Competitive Knitters Get Deadly Serious. I want in! :D

More Serious Link, also from Anna: Lakota group secedes from U.S. Oh my god. I can’t wait to see the official US government reaction to this. O_O

Crossposted from Sleepless in Scotland. Comment here or there.

Independent Soul: now with 75% more CMS! :D

I’ve made a CMS for my stories and one for the quotes, which will hopefully make it a bit easier to update those, at least, and a gallery so I can keep all of my photos and stuff together instead of trying to remember if I put a certain photo on my LJ gallery, my Flickr account, or my /random folder.

And, of course, happy birthday to me. :D

This is the time of year I usually get all thinky and stuff, and this year is no different. I’ve made a bunch of plans and resolutions for the coming year, and this time, I think I will actually keep them.

Resolutions, in order of how hard you’re all allowed to smack me if I fail.

1. Get a new job by May. I’m setting myself a deadline because it’ll be the only way to stick to this.
2. Get serious about freelancing as a webdesigner.
3. Do not start smoking again.
4. Crossdress when I feel like going into boymode, and let anyone who thinks it’s weird or stupid hang.
5. Draft a budget and stick to it for at least three months in a row.

I figure, if I stick to only five of them, that should be manageable. A theoretical sixth is “Write moar,” but like I said, realistic. I’ll try, of course, but I’m not setting myself any goals anymore. :/

(On the subject of #4, my birthday/Christmas present to myself this year is going to be a compression vest/shirt. Possibly one of these — they’re in the US, but I’ve heard good things about Underworks.)

Plans for today: go out to buy Christmas presents for the fam and Lush stuff for me, come home, have a long hot bath. Mmmm. :)

Crossposted from Sleepless in Scotland. Comment here or there.

Now feeling: busy

This is likely to be the last entry posted directly into LJ. Not leaving LJ, mind you, but I'll be posting from WordPress from tomorrow on, because that lets me crosspost nicely across LJ/JF/GJ/IJ from any computer, which is nice. Plus, once I get everything loaded into my on-site blog, I'll have a good backup of my LJ, which is always a good thing.

I am, however, going to be doing some cutting in my friendslist. Nothing personal aainst anyone, but I've had less and less time to properly read my friendslist in the last ... mor than a year, and haven't managed to venture outside of my smallish default view for at least a year, and yeah. Cutting it is, then. :/

Also, if anyone has journals at either JF/GJ/IJ/whatever and wants me to friend them there, let me know. :)

Dear internet: Please don't conk out on me like that, it scares me. O_O

If you were paying attention earlier, you may have noticed that I got the LJXP thing working for multiple journals. Oh, yes. It works, bitches. ("What?") ALL TECH WILL FEAR ME AND DESPAIR! \o/ Anyone else want the scripts, let me know. :D

... Why is Richard Mately being really catty on HIGNFY? o_O

Now feeling: grumpy

I gave up on the idea of getting all of my LJ backed up including comments. Fuck it, it's not working, it's not going to work, and I have other things I could be working on. So sod it, it'll be enough work transferring 6,000+ entries without taking the comments into account anyway. *goes back fiddling with LJXP script and working out a workable Categories/Tags system*

Also, happy LJversary to me! Technically, my LJ was created on the fourteenth, but my first entry was exactly seven years ago today, back before I dropped out of university and moved outon my own and all that jazz. Seven years, two jobs, four moves (one of the cross-border) and more fandoms than you can shake a stick at ago. Lord, I'm old. (Seriously, when I say that LJ is where i keep my memory? I'm not fucking kidding, people!)</p

Now feeling: cold

Now dancing to: The Sex Pistols - Twelve Days of Christmas

( Extended Robin Hood squeeage. )

Now feeling: curious

Now dancing to: The Sex Pistols - Twelve Days of Christmas

I need a new "About Me" page. So: Who am I?

Now feeling: frustrated

Now dancing to: The Sex Pistols - Twelve Days of Christmas

*whacks things with sticks* Okay, So. I'm trying to convince LJ-Archive to export my entries, with comments, to XML so I can upload them to my on-site blog. It does this without complaint for mounthelicon and craftybrain, and will happily do so for bubosquared without comments, but trying to export bubosquared with comments makes it crash on July 2002. Now, granted, this is seven years worth of entries, plus comments, so maybe it's just choking on the sheer volume, but it keeps crashing on the same month, which makes me think it's something specific in that month that's causing the problem. Anyone have any ideas?

( Error/crash message. )

Now feeling: sleepy

Now dancing to: The Sex Pistols - Twelve Days of Christmas

( Brief Robin Hood reaction of squee. )

Now feeling: accomplished

I have no idea why the fuck I'm awake at this hour of the morning, but I've used my time productively, at least. "Story Management System": done, up, and working. \o/

Next up: image gallery software. Preferably one that doesn't take up 80 freakin' MB. And will let me play with the layout. *grabs stick, goes hunting*

[ETA] Anyone have any ideas on what to call a freelance webdesign business> dantesvendetta suggested Minerva (or Athena) Webdesign on Wednesday, but a quick google tells me someone got there first, woe. :( [/ETA]

Now feeling: accomplished

One day of semi-intensice coding later, I have a system that more or less does what I want it to do. W00t! \o/ I'm still finishing up the last bits and pieces (setting up a page for editing stories, checking titles across FPS/RPS/Non-fanfic tables, allowing for banner/cover uploads), and generating the title pages the way I want them is going to take a bit more work (mostly because to fully automate them, I'll have to conquer the COUNT function, which, HATE!), but at the end of the day I'll have something that will let me enter information into a form and generate a php file for the story, and then automatically generate the index pages without me having to faff about with them. Plus, it allows for slighly more complex stuff in future. \o/ I say! :D

... Oh hey, I think I managed to find a way to check for duplicates without the count function. Success! Now to tackle the image uploading.

( Linkspam of the day. )

Customer quote of the day:

Customer: "Whenever I try and open the SatNav, some writing comes up, why?"
Melle: "I don't know, Sir,that depends on what the writing is. Can you try and open the software and read me the message you get?"
Customer: "I'm calling from the phone, so it's a bit difficult to check right now."
Melle: "... Right. Do you know what the icon says that you press to open the software?" [To make sure he at least has our software. -ed.]
Customer: "No, and I can't check, because I'm calling from the phone."

And then he got snippy when I asked to call back from another phone. PEOPLE! How does that make sense? *headdesk*

And I leave you with this inspirational message, which StumbleUpon wanted me to see just now. <3

Now feeling: aggravated

Today's plans: try and write own code for story-management system. Also, porn. *cracks knuckles*

... You'll note that it's now noon and I've yet to do either, by the way. Stupid customers. Gah.

( Instant reactions to this weeks' Robin Hood. )

This is for my own benefit, mostly, so I’ll cut: [Unknown LJ tag]To Do List for website:</lj>

1. Phase One: CSS Layout ALL DONE!
   • Get the actual layout down in CSS, with placeholder colours.
2. Phase Two: Backbone Setup
   • Blog: Wordpress DONE!
   • Stories: write mini!CMS DONE! *flex*
   • Images: Gallery software DONE, and looking as I want it too. Ha!
   • Oddness: Hand-coded DONE! Plus quick-n-dirty database for quotes. Huzzah!
3. Phase Three: Importing (Note: may bleed into Phase Five and beyond.)
   • Import LJ entries into Wordpress (In Progress.)
   • Tag Wordpress entries, fix friendslock level (In Progress.)
   • Import stories into mini!CMS (All actual stories now done, as are RPS and non-fanfic drabbles. Still have 43 drabbles to go, plus two commentaries and some textslash. Whimper.)
   • Import pictures into gallery software (Pictures from old site moved over and done, still need to move the ones from my LJ gallery and my Flickr account.)
4. Phase Four: Colours and Stuff
   • Find someone with a sense of colour-co-ordination to help pick out colours. DONE!
   • Make nicer-looking graphics for all four parts. DONE!
   • Index/front page. DONE!
5. Phase Five: Odds and Ends
   • Setup LJ/GJ/IJ layout and userinfo DONE!
   • Cut/expand friendslists on LJ/GJ/JF/IJ as needed. DONE!
   • Update Links page DONE!
   • Beat LJXP plugin around some more until it works with multipe journals. DONE! It works, bitches. Just need to fiddle with the footer for a bit. W00t.
   • Create hidden “master” page with links to update pages for blog/stories/gallery Done!
   • Favicon? DONE!
   • Put Elfstone online? DONE!
     

Crossposted from Sleepless in Scotland. Comment here or there.

Now feeling: busy

This is for my own benefit, mostly, so I'll cut: ( To Do List for website. )

Happy Saint Nicholas Day! I hope you all got cookies made from the bodies of bad children, and didn’t get abducted to Spain to be made into cookies.

Roughly one week since quitting smoking, and the physical cravings I keep expecting are … not here. I think I slept through most of the actual physical detox, which is … somewhat amusing, actually. Heh. I still get cravings sometimes, especially after supper– although not so much first thing in the morning, which is weird. Good weird, but still weird. And yeah, in all firness I should admit that I have had a drag off someone else’s cigarette here and there — I think in total I’ve had … four, maybe five? cigarettes since last Wednesday, and never a full cigarette all at once, which I think is pretty good. And it’s getting less and less, and I’ve not even had a drag since Tuesday afternoon, so by this time next week I’ll likely be down to nothing. Yaye me!

Now, of course, the next step is to try and write without nicotine. As I originally started smoking to break through writer’s block, you can imagine I’m a bit eep-ish about this.

In an effort to procastinate on writing and stuff, I’ve been working on my website. Tell me what you think of this as a mockup? This is mostly about the general layout and stuff, not the colours/header image, which are just placeholders until I can get some better ones, but it gives you a general idea as to what I’m going for. Yes/no?

*goes back to attempting to beat LJXP plugin into crossposting to several LJs at once* You will obey me, damn you! (At least crosspost to one journal already, dammit!)

Originally published at Sleepless in Scotland. You can comment here or there.

Now feeling: mellow

Before I end up pulling my hair out: any CSS gurus out there want to point me towards the best way to get a footer on a multi-column page? Because Google is coughing up a bunch of ways to do it and I can't seem to find one that works at least in FireFox and AUGH!

Linkspam of the Day, because I discovered Stumbleupon:

1. WinterBells -- Beautiful flash game, and the music makes it even better.
2. VisuWords -- An online graphical dictionary. Fascinating in that way that kinda fucks with my brain. (Double-click on some of the bubbles for more fascinatingness!)
3. Foodpairing -- Not just here because it's a Belgian website, but also because this comes in very handy for people like me who like to experiment with food but don't always have this kind of thing down as common sense.
4. Low Impact Woodland Home -- a.k.a.: Hobbit House built for £4000 in four months. We wants one, preciousss ....
5. The Effects of Drugs on Spiders -- Yeah, um, that spider on caffeine? That's so totally me. *hides in shame*
6. Hang Stan -- Hangman with a pig. And with answers that are much easier to guess than random words. :D
7. Programer or Serial Killer? -- I got 3/10. I'm pretty much fucked, then, aren't I?
8. LetterFu -- This just strikes me as kinda charming and awesome. I may actually start writing letters again with this. :D
9. Guerilla Gardening -- This is just all kinds of awesome and win.
10. Things Other People Accomplished When They Were Your Age -- In case your self-esteem needs punching.

My brain has had, alternatingly, Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny and Internet People stuck in it since yesterday. I've tried everything to make it stop, but even ABBA can't make this budge. Augh. This probably says something about me, but I don't know if I want to know what, exactly. (Note: This is not an excuse to start singing Badger Badger at me, nor the Hamster Dance song or any other internet meme jingle. This is bad enough as it is.

Now feeling: chipper

Am trying to re-write my CV into a more functional CV, focussing on skills more than pure work experience. I'm having trouble coming up with skills. Augh. Any suggestions? Anyone?

So, um. I ... seem to have quit smoking. By power of sheer laziness, mostly, so yeah. I'm a bit wibble abouthow I'll hold up at work today, but the physical addiction seems to be pretty much gone, and the habit is less of a problem here than at home, but on the other hand, there's the stress. Ho hum.

Also, my hair is now long enough that I can start slicking it back in classic '50s butch style. As evidenced last Saturday at Sarah's party, where I dressed up as James Dean. You heard me. I kinda liked the look, but not what the gel did to my hair. Still, if I can find a (preferably wetlook) gel that won't fuck up my hair, I've found a good inbetweeny hairstyle, huzzah!

(And yeah, I know I've been sparse lately, but it's winter, and I go a bt quiet in winter. Don't worry about me, I'll be okay.)

Now feeling: OMG

Now dancing to: Bruce Springsteen - My Father's House

( Robin Hood: Lardner's Ring )

Now feeling: blah

Today is made of tummy-ache and woe. :(

Now feeling: Gay!

And in this week's Robin Hood: ( MORE gay! )

Now feeling: awake

Important PSA to an anonymous cow-orker: smoking in the toilets? What are we, twelve?

Celebatory dinner with co-workers tonight in this restaurant, which I'm really looking forward to. :D

Also, my Italian co-worker looked concerned at me this morning and asked what was wrong with my hair."It looks all 'depress 80s pop singer'." Gee, um, thanks?

Now feeling: pleased

Work was giving away random stuff, and it appears I have a Mac. It's one of the iMacs, the G3, but it's got OS10 on it according to those in the know, and it's justb for faffing abouton, so. Yaye?

Now feeling: awake

So. The good news: my NaNo stuff finally arrived. The annoying news: it was sent to my home address rather than to work, where I had asked it to be sent. The bad news: the handle on my mug was broken. :( Nothing a little superglue couldn't fix, and it's not like I use the handle all that often, but still.

My last call on Friday involved the words "I'm now going to caution you that anything you say can be used in court." He wasn't too pleased that I told him I had to disconnect the call (and did), but you know, if you wanna talk lawsuit, you're gonna have to talk to the lawyers, because I do not get paid enough for this. Gah.

Also from Friday:

A few minutes into the call ...
Kid in Background: Daddy? Daddy! Daddyyyyyyy!
Customer: Go away, go to your mother, I'm on the phone.
A few minutes later ...
Kid in Background: Daddydaddydaddyyyyyyyy!
Customer: Go to your mother! Leave me alone, I'm dead!
Melle: *narrowly avoids anyeurism from held-in laughter*

*pokes intarwebs* I can has fic? It is can be fic time nao?

Now feeling: pleased

I am online from the internet cafe for the sole purpose of flailing about yesterday's Robin Hood. Because Christ and the Man Jesus with the subtext! *flailflail* And, Anna! Marian's ninja!hairpins were back! :D

Now feeling: calm

... I just talked to a Mr De Sade. o_O

PSA-ish: I'll be offline at home until next Thursday, I'm afraid. :/ But I'll be on at work and from internet cafes.

( Here, have some pictures of my hair! )