Er, I've never really seen the point to having one, but apparently it's the done thing these days, and it's been driven home to me lately what incredibly different thoughts people often have about friending on LJ/IJ. So, here it is:

1. If you want to friend me, for whatever reason, go for it.
2. I may or may not friend you back for any number of reasons. If I don't friend you back, it could be one of these reasons:
a. I have no idea who you are.
b. We don't appear to have many (or any) interests in common.
c. I meant to and forgot.
3. People use the friending feature loads of different ways with all sorts of different sets of assumptions about what it means to "friend" someone. Here is my only assumption about friending: there is some interest in reading what the person writes on their LJ/IJ with some regularity, which may or may not have anything to do with being friends in the more usual sense of the word. Actual friendship develops and becomes evident through interacting on each other's journals or in communities/asylums or even (gasp) offline.
4. This is not a strictly fandom journal. I've been on LJ longer than I've been in fandom, and while the opposite is true for IJ, since I crosspost almost everything to both of them, they both have the same mix of topics including fandom stuff, school stuff, relgious stuff, polititcal stuff, dance-related stuff, and just general RL stuff. The balance of what gets the most screen space can shift without warning.
5. I don't flock much. When I do, though, I tend to filter it, because my flist is so eclectic. I tend to make it clear in the subject line what filter I'm using. If you find yourself reading posts that are filtered to a particular set of interests you're uninterested in or uncomfortable with, let me know and I'll take you off. That said, back to the start of this point: I don't flock much.

Also, this is not a comment to be added post. In fact, I'm turning comments off, because it seems whatever my "top post" is inevitably gets tons of spam comments, frequently in languages I don't speak.

So, what I had up here before was never really intended as a master list, and it's been pointed out to me that it's a pain in the neck needing to know which year something was written to find it on the year-end fic meme thing. Thus, here is a master list sorted by fandom.

( Angel )
( Black Jewels )
( Buffy )
( Chalion )
( Crossover )
( Doctor Who )
( Firefly )
( Harry Potter )
( Sharing Knife )
( Temeraire )
( Torchwood )
( Vorkosigan )

Current Mood: accomplished

Those of you who follow me on Twitter have probably already seen this RT'd a few times. As things are down to the wire, however, I decided to try a signal boost on LJ, IJ, and DW.

Casimir Effect is an independent film being produced in Cardiff, Wales. The official synopsis is here, and the nutshell version is "Casimir Effect is a story of unrequited love set on a backdrop of temporal paradox. Dr. Alice Sharpe has a choice to make, stay with her true love and risk the collapse of the space time Continuum, or take more drastic measures to ensure all of creation isn’t erased." Gareth David-Lloyd is co-starring as Dr. Robert Cameron, which is how I heard of it in the first place.

As an indie short film, they're utilizing various types of what's called "crowd funding" or "mob funding," from direct merchandise sales on the site to eBay (though it looks like all auctions have finished) to straight-up donations to either the main budget (still has £286 to go) or the "anti-noodle fund" meant to handle any last-minute emergencies so they don't have to feed cast and crew cheap noodles to cope (£920 short of goal). Anyone who makes a purchase or donation of £10 or more will be listed in the credits.

If you'd like to be a contributing part of an indie scifi film, please either check out their products page (if nothing else, the theme song is really cool and only £1 to download) or donate via Paypal, either at the site or by means of the widgets below.

Current Mood: awake

OWL Award Results are up! Congrats to all the winners! Congrats to all the nominees who didn't win, too, because everything was so damned good, I know I can't have been the only one down to the wire trying to decide just one story to vote in several categories.

Many thanks to those who nommed and voted for Words Left Unspoken, which placed 3rd in the Moonlight & Madness category.

Huge thanks, also, to the OWL mods for all their hard work, in the awards but also in the day-to-day running of the site.

Current Mood: cheerful

Still going strong on the 5_for_five challenge, but I almost didn't make it this past week. As in I was pretty much holding my eyelids up with toothpicks Sunday night and making myself type onemorewordjustonemoreword until I finally hit 500 and just stopped.

Current Mood: accomplished

Catholic Charities had been making noises about needing to leave DC if marriage equality went through. Instead, they've decided to stop offering spousal benefits to all employees not already carrying them. That is at least better than pulling up stakes and leaving. I still find the whole thing perplexing, in that nothing of the sort seems to have come up here in CT in the last year and a half or so.

Going by the lists at LJ, IJ, and DW, the following people have birthdays coming up this month:

tripperfunster, dacian_goddess, shalimar1981, condwiramurs, droops, pinkveneer, voxangelus, siriusneeds, mollilicious, quietann, terri_testing, sshg316, snarkyroxy, roffeeliz, deemichelle, renitaleandra, shellsnapeluver, hearthstone, wickedwit, wombathouse, kribu, gelsey, willowfae, themostepotente, and subvers.

Happy birthday to you all! May you have enjoyable celebrations of your respective births and happy and healthy years ahead!

Going by the lists at LJ, IJ, and DW, the following people have birthdays coming up this month:

tripperfunster, dacian_goddess, shalimar1981, condwiramurs, droops, pinkveneer, voxangelus, siriusneeds, mollilicious, quietann, terri_testing, sshg316, snarkyroxy, roffeeliz, deemichelle, renitaleandra, shellsnapeluver, hearthstone, wickedwit, wombathouse, kribu, gelsey, willowfae, themostepotente, subvers, and chazpure.

Happy birthday to you all! May you have enjoyable celebrations of your respective births and happy and healthy years ahead!

The theme for this week's quiz_sshg is buttons, and Numb is one of the twelve featured stories, not to mention possibly the source of one of the mystery passages. Took me a minute to figure out why it was selected, actually, but when I did, I LOLled.

Click the gorgeous, button-laden banner to be taken straight to this week's quiz, and have fun!



In other news, I've survived yet another validation day, though with a warning to do more (er, any?) lab time on suctioning so I'm less a nervous wreck in front of a live patient.

Current Mood: exanimate

After a Twitter exchange with saracen77 about chocolate mousse this morning, I got to thinking about how we think about food contamination generally versus the science involved. In general, we've internalized (or ignore!) a lot of the warnings without knowing why the warnings are really there. So cobbling together what I learned when I got my foodhandler's license several years ago and what I learned in microbiology a couple of years ago, here are some thoughts about common misconceptions in food safety wiith the caveat that my foodhandler's license has expired so some of the standards (in CT specifically and the US generally) may have changed and I wouldn't know it.

Two key facts that will get referred to throughout: while there are bacteria that can thrive in Antarctica and lava flows, the ones that are dangerous to humans are the ones that thrive between the temps of 40F-140F, roughly 4C-60C. Therefore, fact 2, any high risk food (mostly meat, eggs, and dairy, some veg) that spends four or more hours in that temperature range is considered unsafe. That's four total hours in its existence, from the time it was either killed or removed from its living source until it enters your mouth, not necessarily consecutive time. Also, this includes when it cools down after being cooked. Not all bacteria are killed in cooking, some leave spores that can start breeding once temps get back into the danger zone.

( Raw Eggs )

( Meat )

Current Mood: calm

Or just happy Sunday!

Whether you "do" Valentine's or not, have a look at today's Foxtrot comic strip and have a chuckle. :-)

When annietalbot gave me the heads-up about Lois McMaster Bujold being at Boskone, I really should've taken the Fri-Sat shift off to be sure I could make it up for at least part of today. At 5pm, she was scheduled to (and presumably did) give a 45 minute reading from her new VK book, Cryo Burn. Panels and autographing earlier in the day. I was, theoretically, going to attempt to go up just for the reading, but didn't get anything like enough sleep for that to be a sane idea.

This is the third Boston con I've attempted to convince myself I could "just run up to" without taking any time off work. Three strikes and that nonsense idea is out. Just because it's local doesn't mean it can be squeezed in between a couple of third shifts. I have the pool time; I just need to use it.

Starting to come back to life now, which is good as I've still got 8 hrs to go. Little work-work to do, thank goodness, but plenty of studying. Plus disc one of "Doctor Who and the Silurians." I'm not crazy for Three yet, but it generally takes a bit for me to warm up to each Doctor. I am, however, growing increasingly fond of the Brigadier.

Watched Sherlock Holmes with dinosaurs last night. Hated mailing it back to Netflix, so I guess I'll be buying that at some point. There were apparently lots of things to pick up on for the true Holmes buff, which I am not, but even without that it was enjoyable. Hysterically funny at points, even. Well, it would be. Because it's Sherlock Holmes with dinos. Though, alas, no pteranodon. ;-)

Done with my nearly useless decaf coffee. Time to upgrade and have some green tea, which, in all honesty, I should've made sure I'd had before I ever left the apartment. The only thing decaf coffee really does is stave off the caffeine headache, not wake me up. Unless it's decaf cappuccino, and I didn't leave myself enough time to go to Starbucks. Annoyed as I still am with my coworker, I probably was unintentionally rude, which I honestly didn't mean to be however much she may have deserved it. Dammit.

Also, I've been pretty complainy of late, which I don't really like to see. It's probably more obvious since there hasn't actually been any fic to post to offset the bitchery. Need to work on that. Both being less complainy and managing to write anything that is not TFTWSD and thus postable. Even if it's not something from the backlog of birthday fics. Maybe I'll make that a goal for this week.

Current Mood: exhausted

No good deed goes unpunished.

( Cut to spare your flist. Click at your own risk. )

Current Mood: exhausted

For the most part, I've stuck to criticizing what I see as the flaws in CoE itself rather than RTD. There are a number of reasons for that, first and foremost being I had four years of "critique the work not the author" drilled into me during a previous round of college. Secondmost being I know firsthand that the story does wtf it wants sometimes, even when you don't want it to. Case in point, my snape_after_dh fic, His Soul, which was supposed to be a resurrection fic and ended up being not, or, for that matter, TFTWSD, which is loaded with elements that are almost guaranteed to piss people off, elements that I keep trying to write back out but can't seem to because the characters are too damned insistent. So, yeah, very clear on the whole "the story sometimes does wtf it wants" concept. Do I think that was the case for CoE? Not based on various interviews, but whatever. The story is what it is, and I still think it doesn't actually work, but again that comes back to critiquing the story itself.

The acceptance speech RTD had James Moran read at SFX, however, is not about the story at all. It strictly has to do with RTD, and it absolutely makes me see red.

Let's start at the beginning, shall we? Because there, at the very beginning, we have special needs jokes. Does anyone even think that's actually funny instead of crass and offensive? Kinda sets the tone for the whole thing.

Some of the stuff in the middle could be funny, maybe, if it made sense or we could figure out who he was supposedly talking to on his side of the phone conversation. Then we come to the end and all becomes clear. "You missed a bit, Gareth, over there, that's it, bend over."

Seriously? No, I mean, for real? You think this is humorous? Oh yes, I realize it harks back to one of Ianto's first lines ever. That does not, in this context, make it funny. Because you know what? GDL was apparently a very good sport when he came on stage to accept his own award just after this. (Not finding a link to his acceptance speech on SFX's site, just going by what folks who were there have said.) But that is harassment, sir. And if pointing that out makes me "hysterical," well, clearly I've already embraced the label.

I was already dubious about any S4 for TW, whether on the BBC or Fox*. Not because of Ianto specifically, but for the same reason I couldn't work up an interest in Dollhouse S2 after seeing "Epitaph 1": it felt too over-and-done-with. Now? This just left a really, really bad taste in my mouth. Way to go, RTD. You're actually pushing away fans who still had a foot somewhat in your corner.

*Can I also add that, for someone who's supposedly a Whedon fan, RTD seems utterly incapable of learning from JW's mistakes? Let's leave aside the parallel with Tara's death and the explosive reaction to it, because AfterElton.com already covered that pretty thoroughly. How can you be a Whedon fan and think shopping your sf show out to Fox can end anywhere but disasterland?

Current Mood: pissed off

Have had a couple of inquiries already, so here's the official "I am fine and live nowhere near the big explosion in Connecticut" post. Sounds like an awful thing, and my heart goes out to the families of those who were killed or are missing.

What was the #1 song the day you were born? Google the date and #1 song and then post on your LJ - preferably with a Youtube vid if you can find one!

Never heard of this before, but apparently it was the number one song when I was born: "Judy in Disguise (with Glasses)" by John Fred and his Playboys

Current Mood: amused

I think that just about covers it, at least for the Northern Hemisphere. Anybody celebrating Lammas or Lughnassadh Down Under? If so, a happy one to you as well!

Meanwhile, middle age has clearly arrived in force. I'm now the proud (?) owner of "progressive" bifocals. The only thing "progressive" I've noticed so far is the headache when wearing them, but I'm fighting the urge to just switch back to my old glasses in hopes that'll get me to adapt. Besides which, they were freaking expensive, so I really can't just give up that easily. (Insurance covered the exam and $80 towards glasses, which I think maybe covered one arm and earpiece. Ouch.) So I guess I should just stock up on Tylenol for the next little while.

As far as the summer, there's no sign on the hospital website of the internship I'd been planning to apply for. There was talk of it being cut, and it looks like it may have been. On the one hand, this is disappointing. On the other, Infinitus just got much more likely, at least schedule-wise.

I should probably stop procrastinating and get ready for school, huh?

Current Mood: awake

Going by the lists at LJ, IJ, and DW, happy birthday wishes to trekkieturtle, gwendolyngrace, fuzzyboo03, laiksmarei, inell, alwaysjbj, sabrebabe, dixiebell12, morethansirius, mariadkins, phae_talon, mad_queen_mab, wartcap, alienor77310, popeseasons, kudilu, ordinary_magic, beltainelady, chiska, beffeysue, a_bees_buzz, and emelye_miller! I hope you all have wonderful birthdays and excellent years ahead!

Current Mood: calm

Found via rm. a round-up of the latest in LJ gender!fail in which choices are now "male/female/it's personal." Checked mine, and yup, it now says "it's personal." I'm annoyed. I'm cis-gendered and not particularly invested in not revealing my gender online, and I'm still annoyed on my own behalf and furious on behalf of those who are not cis-gendered and/or prefer not to reveal their gender online nor to use a cutesy phrase to indicate this. They're supposedly returning to the "unspecified" option but haven't yet.

Seriously, LJ? Did you hear anything users were saying when this issue first came up?

In other news, there either aren't that many queer slashers or the numbers are being skewed by straight women who are claiming bisexuality for the cool cred. (What "cool cred"?) Original post in this particular branch of the discussion is now flocked, but this post by elfwreck has some interesting commentary on that, including links to this post by fairestcat discussing the OP's assertions and follow-up directly and this post by melannen that does some number-crunching on various polls that have been made at various times about sexual orientation in fandom generally and/or slash specifically.

Are there issues in slash with homophobia, cultural misappropriation, fetishization of gay men, and probably any number of other things I'm missing? Hell, yes, and these are things that absolutely should be discussed, as uncomfortable as those discussions often get. Deciding a large swath of the people involved either don't exist or are probably lying, however, only serves to derail the discussions that could be happening and to highlight another area of epic fail.

It also echoes LJ's most current fail, in that it reinforces the binary mindset of "you must be either this or that, and if you say otherwise, you are confused/hiding something/some other idiocy."

So, yeah, apparently it's "piss on everyone's self-identification week." Or something. Oh joy.

Current Mood: pissed off

Not the icon you were expecting with that subject line I imagine. It'll become clear shortly.

Serious bit: I think I'm a bit in love with the floor we're on. Back to the land of electronic medical records with the bonus of a computer in every room. This should mean a) less wrangling over the "workstations on wheels" that are always in short supply and b) less feeling like charting is pulling us away from the patients. These are good things.

Surreal bit: Clinical instructor decided to tell us all about her career path, which has involved working for years at a really cool camp for disabled adults that has recently added short sessions for disabled children. She thus had several occasions, during this rather lengthy speech, to repeat the name of the camp over and over again. If you're familiar with Southeastern Connecticut and the guys in my icon, you're probably catching on.

Dear clinical instructor,

Your career history is fascinating. Inspiring even.

However, please, for the sake of my ability to focus on matters at hand, not to mention my sanity, kindly refrain from mentioning Camp Harkness in every other sentence at the beginning of the clinical day ever again.

Thank you,
firefly124

Current Mood: crazy