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I woke up this morning and wondered why I couldn't move my arms properly. Had I slept wrong? Was I sick? OH NO, I just took a cramp after moving a bajillion boxes yesterday. :D We spent the evening in, watching Holstein decide that my shirt sleeves were evil and mocking the evening news. I also discovered that I left ALL THE PRESENTS I bought for people in my flat, so at some point today or tomorrow we have to go back to my flat, BRAVING THE THREE PERILOUS INCHES OF SNOW, to get my gifts for everyone. In our family it's been a tradition since I was tiny that on Christmas eve you get to open two gifts, which are invariably a book and a pair of pyjamas, so you can read yourself to sleep waiting for Santa, and on Christmas morning you're in nice new pjs for present-opening. Last night, despite it not quite being Christmas, Mum gave me fancy new flannel pyjamas, and instead of a book I got a stuffed sock monkey. Oh family. Never change. |
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WELL THAT WAS AN AFTERNOON. My family arrived at my place and I told them, and this was my mistake, "You're going to have to go down the street, turn around, and pull up to my place so we can unload." They got stuck in the snow at the end of the street. Three inches of snow. In a four wheel drive pickup. I MIGHT HAVE LOLED. And then spent forty minutes helping push them out. Anyway, we got my new hideous chair and my bookshelf up to my apartment, took the rest of my stuff to storage, dropped off the U-Haul trailer, and made our way downtown to the hotel. It took us two trips to get all the luggage to the hotel room, because everything my parents brought is in tote bags. Apparently they've sworn off luggage? I don't even know. But we are here in the hotel now, safe and warm and awaiting room service. We were upgraded, which rocks the house; it means that the room I'm sharing with Emmy is just a room, but if we go next door my parents have a PALATIAL SUITE we can all hang out in. And, obvs, the internet works. I'm so glad we have no more moving to do. |
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I kept meaning to make an LJ entry today, and then things kept happening in my brain, you don't even want to know. So instead, you get a list! 1. While my knee is healing rapidly (I'm a good healer, to make up for tripping on NOTHING, ALL THE TIME) I've had to shorten my gait, so it takes me like, five minutes longer to get EVERYWHERE. This is improving my balance however. 2. The slow-walking thing is why I'm glad that the mailman came to see me today and took the last of my Christmas mailings, because omg I did not want to walk to the post office. 3. Which in turn means I can get a cab home. Ooooooh. And clean the kitchen in preparation for The Arrival Of My Family. 3a. Five bucks says that the first thing Emmy says to me when she sees the collage I made of images you guys sent me is, "Why is there a naked man with a frying pan in the corner?" I'm going to just have to tell her "Art is its own explanation" or something equally ridiculous because I often ask myself the same question, and have yet to find an answer beyond "It was there." |
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So as the year draws to a close, I thought I might talk about the television I have watched during it, and hear about other people's television. I have noticed that my year's viewing has a common theme - one of my favourite themes. Sensible Girls, and the Romantic Boys Who Love Them. One thing I watched was the second season of Merlin. I have written up my thoughts on season one Merlin here. MERLIN SEASON TWO ARTHUR: My new contract states I must be shirtless at least once an episode. GWEN: Now I am going to be a love interest, I am looking extremely foxy in several new gowns. I am never shirtless, because this is the BBC. MERLIN: Nobody fed me over the summer, and I am feeling weak. MORGANA: Nobody gave me any lines for the upcoming season, and I am feeling evil. ( Merlin Season Two, continued )Since I am devoted to L.J. Smith, who at sixteen was my Twilight, I was certain to watch The Vampire Diaries. I saw the pilot at Comic Con, and was hugely delighted to see that the hero and heroine wrote their sad, sad diaries sadly in sync. Then I saw more, and I have been most excellently pleased by it! ( Vampire Diaries so far )My flatmates and I bought the box set of Bones and watched it together, drinking cups of hot chocolate with ice-cream in them. SARAH: I dunno. I love Partners Who Fight Crime an awful lot, but I'm just not sure I can take FBI Agent Angel. DR BRENNAN: I am a lady who would rather poke around in human soup with bones floating in it than think about her feelings! Also I enjoy casual relationships and am bad at being charming. FBI AGENT ANGEL: I am pretty good at being charming, and I am in touch with my feelings. I am not as smart as you but I am totally comfortable with not being a crazy genius! DR BRENNAN AND FBI AGENT ANGEL: Together we goofily fight crime. SARAH: The truest loves are found through goofily fighting crime. NEXT BOX SET PLEASE. In summary, I love Sensible Girls and the Romantic Boys Who Love Them. I also love things that are kind of ridiculous. What kind of thing do you love? |
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So, my parents and sister are driving cross-country to Chicago for the next two days, in order to bring me the stuff I left in storage with them when I moved here. They're also bringing me The Best Chair Ever, which my mother acquired sometime in the 70's. It has bright-orange nubbly upholstery, and is almost unbearably comfortable. I am very excited to own a hideous comfortable chair. What I had not anticipated is that my parents would not pack things with which to entertain each other while they are on the road (I have no doubt Emmy is glued to her headphones and hopefully struggling through the last of The Great Gatsby for school). As the dog -- who they're bringing along, apparently in a padded box mounted on the dashboard -- is asleep, mum's primary source of entertainment is texting me. I love them. I just have to remind myself sometimes. |
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I've been wrangling this post over and over in my head for about a month now, perhaps a little longer, and it's still just plain messy, so I'm going to plow through and see what I can make of it.
At the start of November, a friend of mine died. Her husband's wishes are that there be no memorial post, so I'm not going to talk about who; if you knew her, you've heard by now, and if you don't know who, then you needn't worry.
K and I met via the Whofandom earlier this year, while I was working on Nameless, and we shared an interest in digital publishing and its effect on the wider world. Not to make this all about me -- though grieving usually is about the survivors -- but she was instrumental in opening my eyes to some things about writing, and my writing in particular, that I hadn't considered.
She sent me an essay on Nameless that she'd been working on, examining the use of geography and space in the novel. It was a brilliant piece of work standalone, but it brought home to me the fact that this story wasn't just being read by the Cafe or talked about it amongst people I knew. It was out there, in the world, and people were reading it and forming opinions that had nothing to do with what I thought or felt. People were analyzing what I did and finding things in the writing I hadn't consciously put there, but which were there anyway -- the same way I did in school with books I read and plays I worked on. To be the subject of that focus is at once thrilling and frightening, but endlessly educational.
She made me feel -- as the VOYA review and many people have done since, but with her, it was the first time -- like a Real Published Writer.
I've since learned through a mutual friend (to whom I am indebted for maintaining communication when K's eyesight failed her, and sharing in the mourning) that she had a wide array of literary interests and that I was in extremely respectable company under her eye. I'm glad to have known her and the thoughts she had on my work. She had notes on The Dead Isle too, which I expect to have in due time, when the sorting and sifting and other work is done. I'm very much looking forward to hearing what she said about it.
Um, there's no real point to this post, really, except to say that K did this thing for me, and was a friend. I want to put out there in the world that I miss her, I wish I'd known her better, and I wish I'd known her longer. Grief is natural and fades, and I'm okay; but I wanted to say it, so that it's there. |
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Things what I have done today: Cleaned the bedroom and living room
Vacuumed the bedroom and living room (technically the Roomba did this)
Made reservations for the whole family to see Sherlock Holmes on Christmas Day, followed by fancy dinner downtown (That last one is remarkably difficult. Most restaurants aren't open, and those that are have a Prix-Fixe menu that's a little out of our league, or serve food that one of us won't eat. I finally triumphed, however!) Things what I must yet do:
WRAP CHRISTMAS PRESENT OMG
Mail two cards
Clean and vacuum the kitchen
Clean the fridge
Cook rice I cannot wait till my family arrives, in part because they are bringing me A RICE COOKER. \o/ Now I venture out into the snow, to mail a card and buy a hamburger. :D |
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OH AND I saw the episode of House everyone said I had to see, the one that was all about Wilson. ( Three Things! ) 3a. I have to say this outside of cut, because really, Wilson? Really? "She hurt my friend. She should be punished." Dear House and Wilson: It's okay to be hurt if a woman rejects you, and it's okay to be hurt if she's dating someone you consider a friend. It's even okay to be hurt if she's your friend and rejected your other friend. You know what it's not okay to do? Punish her for not loving you. Creeps. |
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I would be remiss in my author-ly duties if I did not point out to you that I was asked to do a Christmas post on some of my favourite things in one of my favourite book blogs, and that post is here.I show myself to be a person of pretty low moral character, willing to commit murder for Megan Whalen Turner and everything. I also talk about some of my favourite books of the past year and some in the year to come, and discuss the issue of reading books by people you know, which is something that happens more and more often when you do the writer thing. You meet people! As for instance this small interlude in a cafe the summer before last. CASSIE: Hi everyone, Sarah's turned up again, oh cupcakes. Sarah, have you met Maureen Johnson? SARAH: ... Maureen Johnson... CASSIE: Do you need me to open that bottle for you? SARAH: ... Maureen Johnson... MAUREEN: Um. Hi. SARAH: *hearts in eyes* MAUREEN: How're you doing? SARAH: YOU DAZZLE ME. I like Maureen's books a lot, okay? As you can see from this small bit of conversation, I am always super smooth when I meet awesome people. (There is one Famous and Acclaimed Author I hit in the head with a breakfast pastry. But I will never reveal which one! NEVER.) But anyway, yes, reading books by people you know - scary, yet reassuring, sometimes like having a conversation with your friend. Sometimes like being DAZZLED by your friend! It is complicated. Speaking of conversations with one's friends, I was having an interesting one with Justine Larbalestier yesterday. Now we all know about fictional couples who we want to get together in books. (Mary and Colin from The Secret Garden got married when they grew up. Yes they did. It is a truth! A truth of my heart.) But what about fictional couples who get together and who we don't believe in? Who you look at together and go 'Nah... it'll never last.' I've got to say, for me Jane Eyre and Rochester, they are going to break up. (Well, probably not given the time they were in, but I don't think they're going to be happy. Because they have a lot of chemistry, but Rochester is a crazy liar, y'all.) ROCHESTER: Gosh, I have a crazy wife hidden in the attic who occasionally breaks out and sets fires. And I'd like to bigamously marry my governess. You know what this situation needs? AUDIENCE: ... what? ROCHESTER: MORE COMPLICATIONS! I think I'll have a house party and have a fake engagement to a third lady. AS WELL as the secret crazy wife. And the bigamous marriage. AUDIENCE: ... what? ROCHESTER: You're RIGHT! I'm not giving this a hundred per cent! What if I dress up as a gypsy woman and tell fake fortunes? I'm just saying, Jane will come home one day and Rochester will have sold the children to pirates. Justine believes in even fewer couples than I do. Which fictional couples do you guys think are doomed never to last? It has been in some respects a tough year (though in other respects a truly marvellous and spiffy and amazing year) so I admit I have had a few thoughts about ringing in the changes in some sort of new and excellent way. So I have this page open which lists awesome cheap flights at all times. But, you know, I secretly knew that I was going to be home for New Year's because I hadn't made any proper plans yet. Then yesterday I saw amazingly inexpensive flights to Boston. But I didn't really plan to go. I planned to consult with sensible friends. PLANNED CONVERSATION! SARAH: Should I go to Boston? HOLLY: No, that seems unwise. SARAH: You are right, what was I thinking? I am such a ninnyhammer. ACTUAL CONVERSATION! SARAH: Should I go to Boston? HOLLY: Yes, good idea! SARAH: Can I come see you as well? HOLLY: Yes, I am very valiant and can put up with you! Bring a mask. SARAH: ... Why? HOLLY: I cannot reveal that at this time. SARAH: WOW I SEEM TO BE ACTUALLY GOING TO BOSTON? I wonder what I will do there! Perhaps I will have an adventure? I think I will have an adventure, you guys. I have never been to Boston before! I am going to take notes on it for Secret Reasons. Can you, oh wise internet, tell me awesome things to do in Boston? So my lovely people, I hope you are having an awesome run-up to Christmas! I also hope you will tell me awesome things to do in Boston, tell me about fictional couples you think are doomed, and most of all that you will like the Extra Christmas Bonus Excerpt of Demon's Covenant in my BookSmugglers post. (Oh, Nick. Of all the tall dark heroes in the world, you have the distinction of being the least charming of them all...)
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cherry bomb |
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warning, angela aki | |
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So I totally didin't realise NCIS was new this week. Which is why Sam's Three Things are BELATED. Spoilers for Episode 7.10, ( Faith )3a. Okay normally I would mention how I absolutely DID NOT tear up at the end, with McGee and the Most Adorable Child Ever, but instead I have to say this: I watched the latest episode of Merlin last night as well, The Fires Of We're Not Nazguls, Really, We're Not, and the first ten minutes were the most awesome ten minutes of Merlin ever, followed by the most ridiculously stupid forty minutes ever (okay not the most ridiculously stupid of Merlin, though, that would be the fucking troll episodes). OMG YOU GUYS DID YOU SEE MERLIN THROW HIM HIS SWORD THAT WAS TOTALLY BADASS AND THEN HE DRESSED MERLIN'S WOUNDS WITH HIS OWN. CLOTHES. AHAHAHA. |
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I'm at R's for Wheel and he was telling me about meeting...A BLOGGER. And totally blowing his shot with her. R: so she's a model AND a blogger. And we wre getting along really well. But I think I know when it went wrong.
Sam: When is that?
R: Well, she said she loves 90's music, and she kept talking about it. So I just said...Well, you could blog about it.
Sam: *Lols forever*
R: Do you think she took that the wrong way? One of the people on Wheel, a submarine officer, introduced himself as an Underwater Nuclear Christian Warrior. We might have laughed a LOT. |
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AHAHAHAHAHAA I THOUGHT I WAS GOING INSANE. I decided that Domino's Pizza was not a healthy option in my life, so about two months back I stopped ordering it. Which really means I stopped eating pizza, mostly, because local pizza places are either too expensive or too shit (yes, shittier than Domino's, I know that takes effort) and Domino's is the only chain place that delivers to my area. The night before I went traveling I decided, well, I can have one once in a while, and I ordered a Domino's pizza. It tasted awful. I thought, great. I've weaned myself off the one pizza I used to tolerate. Now I don't even like Domino's. The sauce is gross and what's up with the garlic salt on the crust? THEN I SAW THIS. Dominos refomulated their entire pizza recipe. They say it's only available in Ann Arbor, but it's definitely available at my local Domino's too, and it is foul. The sauce in particular is offputting (red pepper kick, not so much, too sweet, oh yes), and the garlic salt on the crust just tastes of grease. BUT AT LEAST I'M NOT CRAZY. |
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I got my bloodwork back from my doctor yesterday, but I'd already posted a bunch so I didn't want to spam. I am reasonably healthy for someone who falls down a lot, though I am Vitamin D deficient (Vitamin D-ficient!) so she gave me a prescription. Let's recount the pills I now take on a daily basis:
4 Calcium (2 morning, 2 evening)
4 Naproxen Sodium (2 morning, 2 evening)
1 Vitamin D (evening)
1/2 - 1 Vicodin (evening as needed)
These are all prescribed by my doctors and in the correct doses, mind you. Finally my body is beginning to match my 83-year-old personality. All I need now is a cane and a pair of high-waisted trousers.
The doctor also thinks I should pre-emptively lean towards The Mediterranean Diet to keep up heart health since my family has a History. This particular dietary structure recommends a lot of bread, rice, potatoes, fruit, legumes, and nuts, and fish as the primary meat. This suits me to the ground and means I can eat a lot of sushi guilt-free.
I'm just going to politely ignore the bit about eating a shit-ton of vegetables, and buy more carrots.
Man they want me to eat a lot of olive oil though. How do you get that much olive oil in your system? There's only so much you can dunk in it, and I like hummus but it gets old fast.
Maybe I should just do a shot of it every now and then. I could call it the Greasy Martini. "It's a shot of olive oil...with an olive in it. Shaken, not stirred." |
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MUM SENT ME GROCERIES. 
I love her. She knows of my passion for bagelfuls! (I would like to say that while I love brie, the "brie log" is ill-concieved. Too much rind. It's not bad, and it's convenient for cracker snacking, but you're better off buying a wheel.) |
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In the insanity of this morning, and of learning how to make ebooks (my curve is steep!) I almost forgot to tell the best story of my day. Yesterday we got a flyer about a special deal that a few downtown hotels are offering to employees of downtown businesses. It was a little bit vague on the details, so I called the central number and asked a few questions. The woman I spoke to was SO PLEASED I was going to spread the word that she took down my name, company, and email address. Cue an hour later, a rep from the hotel company shows up at the office and brings me a bag of candy and a GIFT CERTIFICATE for a free night's stay at one of the hotels, as a thank-you. IT'S STAYCATION TIME. |
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I am upright! And coherent! Okay, semi-coherent. But coherent enough to complete all my work tasks with a minimum of bewildered weeping. Actually I have some very exciting stuff to share with you this morning. First, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) 51stcenturyfox gave me a lovely early Christmas present -- www.extribulum.com. It's my very own domain name! Which is good 'cause damned if I know how to set stuff like that up. :D Right now it redirects to my Lulu storefront, but I hope to badass up a website sooner or later. Thank you very much, Foxy! (She also wrote me a lovely poem about it.) And, if you visit www.extribulum.com (link your friends! :D) you will notice that Nameless is now listed twice -- once at the top of the page and once at the bottom. This is because shezan poked me into action and Lulu provided the means to create an ePub file of Nameless. Yep -- you can now download Nameless, the e-book, and load it into the ePub reader of your choice. Because a lot of people who have bought the book or downloaded the PDF would like it as an ePub, it seems a bit unfair to charge for it right off. The ebook will be free until the end of the month, at which point I'll raise the price to $3 (about $1.80 of that is profit; for some reason you can give the thing away, but if you charge for it Lulu takes a fair-sized chunk). You guys will have to let me know how it looks, 'cause the Calibri e-reader's kind of buggy and tends to make random sentences disappear until you resize the screen, at which point it makes other random sentences disappear. :D |
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You will have to excuse me, you guys. It feels weird and awesome to have a cover for The Demon's Covenant to show you all. The new book, my brain is rejoicing. I get to have more than one! (My brain can be a little slow.) Anyway, so: this is the UK cover for The Demon's Covenant. And I love eeet. My publishers are so good, y'all. Because they are very kind to me, and because my UK covers are drawn and not photographic, I kept emailing them and saying 'Oh, could we have - could we change - could we fix-' and now I have this cover and they did not hire ninja assassins to come kill me with poison darts even once. The title is going to be SILVER and it's going to be even more beautiful when it is REAL but for now - look, there's my girl! And I love it. I hope you love it too! ( The Demon's Covenant UK Cover )
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cherry bomb |
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a girl worth fighting for | |
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I am home from the clinic! (for those of you reading on IJ and JF mirrors, I have a sprained/possibly torn MCL. No breaks!)
I'm to ice and elevate today. I got a prescription for vicodin and didn't check it before I filled it -- holy crap he gave me 30 500-mg tablets. So I'm taking half-tablets, which should be more than enough.
You can tell I was a little bit high when I filled the prescription. I bought vicodin, Calcium tablets (I was almost out), a spare Ace bandage, a toothbrush, two Snickers bars, and a jar of jam. I don't even remember buying the jar of jam.
I can't recommend Michigan Avenue Immediate Care highly enough, for those in Chicago who don't have a doctor or need to see a doctor NOW but don't want to go to the ER. I was seen within half an hour, they charge on a sliding scale so you can generally get fairly cheap medical care if you don't have insurance, and they have really nice doctors.
I did have to do the Walk Of Shame in my pyjamas, but that's why I wore pyjamas instead of just jeans, so I didn't have to keep taking off my pants; I could just wear my pjs and roll up the cuff. Undressing and taking off my shoes are the hardest thing right now.
I am going to go sit down forever. |
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Me to doc: can I put my pants back on? Doc: let me wrap your knee and then you can pants it up! I like this guy :D Final diagnosis: Sprain of the MCL, I get an ace bandage, some PT stuff to do, and some vicodin. No fractures! I'm in a taxi on the way home. |
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Michigan Avenue Immediate Care are my favourite place I wish I didn't have to visit. Since the last time I was here they have installed free wifi for patients, and they offer free snacks (oranges, granola bars, etc) at the intake desk. Leg still hurts this morning, but at least it's no worse. Other bruises are making themselves known. My doctor is going to look at me ( wearing loose pjs under my jeans, for modesty's sake) and lol his ass off. I wouldn't blame him one bit. |
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