Garrulous writings of a mildly ADD mind

Hey all, we'll be pulling the database server offline this coming Monday for approximately an hour to run some software updates on the system. I shouldn't expect it to take the full hour, but better to allocate the extra time just incase!

The update will start at 9am and run until 10am EST.

Thanks!

The Christmas Wish List Meme

Step One:
Make an LJ post. It can be public or friends only, whatever you’re most comfortable with. The post should contain your list of ten holiday wishes, and these wishes can be anything - from simple and fandom-related (a fan fiction written about your favorite pairing), to medium (a DVD you want), to really extravagant (a brand new laptop or car). Just make sure these are wishes for things you really, truly want. If you’re wishing for things that must be mailed to you, like a DVD, make sure you include some sort of contact information in your post. This can be your mailing address or your email address, it doesn’t matter which. Just make sure Santa (or one of his elves) can somehow get in touch with you. :)
Also make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your LJ. The main reason for the holiday wish lists is to spread the joy of giving.

Step Two:
Skim through your friends list and see who has posted their own wish lists. Then - and this is the most important part - if you find a wish you can grant, and it’s in your heart to do so, make sure that person’s wish come true. Sometimes a person’s trash is another person’s treasure. If you have a leather jacket you don’t want or a gift certificate you’re never going to use, give it to someone who wants it.

Step Three:
Post this wish list any time after November 1st. Then repost it two weeks before Christmas.

Remember: You don’t need to spend money on these wishes to make them come true. Only spend money if you want to. The point isn’t to put people out, or to throw yourself into further in financial debt. The point of this is to provide everyone a chance to be someone’s secret Santa, to show someone what the holiday season is all about. Gifts can be made anonymously or not. It’s all up to you.

1) Aral/Cordelia fanart, fanfiction, fanmixes, whatever, I'm not picky. I am looking at YOU, Pris and Boy.

2) Addresses so I can send people postcards from Copenhagen! Also a promise of letters and/or emails while I'm there.

3) Something made just for me. Story, art, music mix, I'm not picky. It's the "just for me" thing that would count here, because I am selfish and needy and greedy and you love me for it. :D

4) Recommendations for books/music/movies/tv shows. Anything you found fantastic. Fangirl about it to me; I love hearing people talk about things they love.

5) Anything off my Amazon wishlist, but particularly the Vorkosigan books or SJA.

6) Something given to charity in my name. This could be anything; ten minutes playing on freerice.com or change dropped in the jar at the supermarket. I don't care. Just think of me when you do it.

7) Mark's scarf from RENT. Or the Doctor's scarf from Doctor Who. Either/or.

8) To get a book published. Suppose this means I had best get my rear in gear and actually finish one.

9) Used books or plastic/stuffed/otherwise fake horses that need a home. No limit on how good or poor their condition is, I'll love them anyway.

10) For everyone to have one perfect day.

My only explanation for this is that I am wicked sick and just as tired and therefore I think it is funny.
NOT DIALUP FRIENDLY.
Suggestions for where else to post this and telling me fail y/n would be awesome.

( Doctor Who macrospam of doom )

In list format!

1) Is it just me, or is banning books highly counterproductive? I know that when I read a list of banned books, I go through it checking off the ones I've read, and the ones I haven't go right on the to-read list. It's the lure of the forbidden, partly, and partly it's curiousity, and partly it's sheer cussedness (of the "Nobody tells me what I can and can't read" variety). I don't do well when people tell me what information and ideas I'm not allowed to have.

Though really, I can understand banning the Sleeping Beauty trilogy, because that was just so bad it's awful. On a number of levels.

2) Dear Superintendant Who Shall Remain Nameless:

DO NOT CANCEL A PRODUCTION IN TECH WEEK. The actors will kill you. Not to mention the director.

Love, me.

Set your mind at ease; it didn't happen to me. I was reading a book entitled What Schools Ban and Why and a superintendant apparently cancelled a production of The Crucible because he'd gotten complaints about the previous production. LOL WHUT.

3) ...it actually just occured to me that I can fit what I was going to write here into a paper. So if you really want to know, ask me about companionate marriages, Jane Austen, and moral centers, and I'll babble a bit about my movie review. Suffice to say that I'm so in love with my teacher right now, because she cited the Onion in class.

Okay, it's times like these that I'm glad I'm not real active in my fandoms. I mean, I like to pretend that I'm a prominent author, but I don't really do meta and I avoid discussion forums like the plague, because I don't like indulging in thinky-fandom-talk with people I don't personally know because it leads to stuff like this. So. Fandom please!

To take my mind off your shenanigans I am going to perform a significance test on my last iTunes meme to prove that iTunes is either psychic or psycho and that I am indeed learning something in my Prob/Stat class.

So. This is an observational study. The explanatory variable is iTunes being psychic; the response variable is whether the song that comes up in response to a question is appropriate or not; both are categorical binary. Technical conditions are met. It's a simple random sample, and .45 x 31 is greater than ten, so the sample size is large enough.

Right! So, my data states that the statistical likelihood of getting a song appropriate for the question is .45. Logic says that the statistical likelihood of getting a song appropriate for the question is .5. Therefore, I shall perform a significance test to see if getting data as extreme as the data I got is statistically likely if the true population mean is .5.

Null hypothesis: the true mean is .5.
Alternative hypothesis: the true mean differs from .5 (ie, iTunes is pyschic or psycho).
Test statistic: -6.936
p-value: <0.0001
significance level: .05

The level of significance is high enough that the true mean is highly unlikely to be .5. I reject the null hypothesis at the .05 level and accept the alternative hypothesis, and given that the test statistic is negative, I would say that iTunes is not psychic but psychotic.

See? I learned something! Applaud me even if that was gibberish.

Title: What Could Have Been
Author: Dark Puck
Rating: PG
Genre: 50 Sentences
Summary: A 50 sentences prompt using what might have happened had the Colony Trio (Ichiro, Yui, and Kouji, also known collectively as Yujiro) been discovered by a general of the Fire Nation three years prior to canon events.
Disclaimer: Avatar the Last Airbender and all canon characters therein belong to Viacom and Bryke.  General Torao, Lady Ran,and their youngest daughter Torako belong to beckyh2112; I use them here with her permission.

( In school they are taught lies... )

There is almost certainly an enviromental factor to my wretchedness this semester. Everyone in my dorm is ill in one way or another, most of us with the same symptoms (headache and earache due to aggrievated allergies even though most of us don't have them, postnasal drip, coughs, difficulty sleeping and difficulty waking up, general shittastic feeling). Our dorm was recarpeted this summer and updated a little bit, given wireless and had the air conditioning system worked on. Coincidence? I think not.

( Have a random song meme. )

And soon I will go back and test that (it's over 30, it counts) to see if it's statistically significant that iTunes is psychic! But not now.

Title: Lost in Translation
Author: TigerKat24
Recipient: draickinphoenix
Assignment: Harry/Murphy...what happens after the end of the last episode?
Word Count: 2494
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Bob is informative, Murphy is incorporeal and Harry is confused.
Notes: Very sorry for the lateness! Enjoy.

( This was most definitely not what he meant. )

Dear Yuletide Writer:

I have very little to say to you, actually. I think my prompts speak for themselves, and I would like to invite you to take them in any direction you choose. I love surprises. Play with them and see what happens.

Mostly, I just wanted to say that as you may have gathered from my rather self-pitying posts recently, I have not been having the best of times in life. You, you lovely wonderful person, you, can only make me happier. Have fun! Make things go boom. Enjoy your writing. I hope you enjoy your Yuletide as much as I know I'm going to enjoy mine.

Love;
Kat

PS:
If you happen to be a Vorkosigan fan... Miles vs. Captain Jack Sparrow would be made of awesome y|y.

Well, I'm in California now and on the job hunt.  There are some minor issues with this at the moment, mostly stemming from me having forgotten my Social Security Card and passport at home, but for the most part 'tis going well.  However, we're still on hiatus, due to Cowriter being in the midst of Hell Week.  Sorry for the delay, folks.  Hopefully things will clear up soon.

In the meantime, to tide you over, I bring as an offering a Kouji-and-Zuko fanmix for the Soldier's Boy universe.  I hope y'all like it!

So remember how I said I was the only one in my circle of friends not having some kind of breakdown?

I shouldn't have tempted fate.

I seriously think my heart is going to explode if this keeps up.

( lj-cut of mercy )

Please watch:

http://scribbldstatus.tumblr.com !!

I do not get all the drama about David Tennant leaving Doctor Who. I mean, yes, it's sad, we'll miss Ten, we'll miss the mating plumage, we'll miss the suit, but for the love of God, people. This is how the show works. We lose one Doctor, we get another one.

So chill the fuck out. You'll still see Tennant in other projects. And meanwhile stop talking about how it's breaking your heart and you want to just kill yourself. FANDOM != RL.

Jesus. Miguel does not approve of your shenanigans.

1. What's the last TV show you saw?
I... had to think back an embarrassingly long time for this. I think it was the Sarah Jane Adventures, which are made of total win and should be watched by everyone. And no, I tell a lie, it was the X-files, because Katie was having a horribly shitty day and needed shippiness to make her feel better, so I provided. SJA is still made of win, though, and you should watch it. Yes, you.

2. What are you wearing at the moment?
My Tao-of-Pooh pajamas! They're my favorite things for relaxing in. Also, my "I don't give a shit what I look like" bra, the one what actually fits but isn't very flattering. Is comfy.

3. What was the best part of your day?
Watching 1776. HELLZ YEAH. John Adams is the love of my life, have I mentioned that recently? Too bad he's married. And dead. Can't forget the dead. But seriously, I'm in love with him. I may be a bit weird.

4. What are you looking forward to about tomorrow?
Sleeping in, hellz yeah, and spending the morning in bed reading. I don't intend to get up until at least 12:30. Huzzah for Saturdays!

5. What is your favorite drink?
At the moment, tea! Specifically oolong tea. Specifically the good oolong tea I got at the one Chinese grocery.

6. How do you sleep?
Uhm. It depends. Usually I fidget a lot and have a lot of trouble falling asleep, but once I'm asleep, I stay asleep. I have slept through fire alarms and earthquakes and ambulances arriving at my house so the paramedics could take my brother to the hospital (relax, he's fine, this was years and years and years ago). However, sometimes, if I've been really traumatized, I get a lot of bad dreams, and those tend to wake me up and give me real trouble sleeping. Most of the time, though, I sleep like a rock, very still and very quiet.
Isolated reports have suggested that I talk in my sleep. According to my mother, Katie, and Pris, all of whom I have shared sleeping quarters with, this is a false lie.

7. Do you keep a paper journal/diary?
No, and I could never get the hang of it. Well, unless you count my commonplace book--that's a record of money spent and earned and books read. I also have a book of books to read, a book of vocabulary words, and a book of things to write, but those are even less diary-like than the commonplace book.

8. What will you be doing after finishing this?
Finishing NaNo (about 800 words to go!) then going to bed. Maybe reading a little Crown Duel.

9. What did you want to be when you grew up?
I vacillated. Teacher, ballerina, professional equestrian, President, evil overlord (I shit you not, it was a childhood ambition). Right now I want to be a librarian.

10. What trend have you never gotten into?
Emo. I don't get it. Why be sad all day? That just sucks all the joy out of life.

11. What kind of person do you think the person who you got this from is?
She is made of win! Especially because she is writing a NaNo about Dr. Evelyn Smythe, who is also made of win.

12. What are you afraid of?
Irrationally or rationally? Rationally, about nothing. Irrationally... everything? Mostly failing school, or failing at life, I think. And sometimes I get irrational panic attacks about nobody really caring about me for me. So... basically, if I ask you why you like me, it's not an ego trip, it's me being irrationally panicky, so don't mind it.

13. What's your favorite item of clothing?
My LBD! I love it so. It makes me look fabulous and I love wearing it because it's not only super-comfortable and fabulous-looking, it's also got a low-cut top that doesn't make me go all, "O HAI MAI CLEAVAGE LET ME SHOW YOU IT."

14. What five words best describe how you're feeling at the moment?
Sleepy, excited, comfy, happy, overworked.

15. What time do you usually go to bed?
Between midnight and two in the morning. Obviously today is an outlier.

16. What's the meaning behind your LJ username/name/nicknames you go by?
Well, my first name shortens to "Kat" quite nicely, and that's the name I usually go by. My favorite poem is William Blake's "The Tyger," so that's where the first bit comes from. TigerKat just kinda sounds nice, you know? And 24 is because my birthday is May 24th.

Medium: Books
Fandom: Lois McMaster Bujold’s Miles Vorkosigan series
Subject: Cordelia Naismith/Aral Vorkosigan
Title: There’s Nothing You and I Won’t Do
Warnings: Huge spoilers for Shards of Honor and Barrayar.
Notes: I know, I know. I ship this like burning and it won’t go away. So, you get another fanmix (in the possibly futile hope of making somebody write me some fanfic?). With bonus Kou/Drou! And yes, I’m very fond of Vienna Teng. So should you be.
Everything's behind the cut as usual.
Companion to falling is like this, which has been reuploaded just because I love you.

( There's Nothing You and I Won't Do )

TODAY IN HISTORY. *echo echo echo*

In 1605, a group of Catholic conspirators plotted to blow up Parliament while the king (James I) was opening the session. It would never have worked, for various reasons: mostly because they were stupid and told some Catholic members of Parliament not to go that day, thereby letting the king's intelligence network (set down by Elizabeth I, mad props, yo) know all about them. They were caught and used as a pretext to persecute Catholics all over the kingdom, and as a spur to the King James Bible's translation. Didn't know that, did ya?

Here's some other things I bet you didn't know. There was never any tunnel under the Houses of Parliament. Guy Fawkes was not the leader: a gent named Robert Catesby was. The original plan was to abduct the royal children and put James's daughter Elizabeth on the throne as a Catholic monarch (because it worked so well the last time). The plot was originally scheduled for 1604 but was called on account of plague. The gentleman who is responsible for putting all the pieces together, Robert Cecil, originally served Elizabeth I, as did his father, William Cecil (fascinating pair of gentlemen; look them up sometime).

Also, Fawkes was kind of an idiot and didn't take care of his gunpowder properly, so there wouldn't have been a big bang and dead King anyway, just a kind of "phbbbt" noise. Good thing he never got to ignite it, huh? "Remember, remember, the 5th of November, gunpowder treason and pbbbt?"

I don't know what to say.

On the one hand, Obama is president. I feel so much more hope and possibility now than I did last week. The news came yesterday while I was in rehersal: my stage manager's mother texted her, and she interrupted our runthrough to say "You guys, Obama is president!" That completely disrupted rehersal for a while, of course. There were jumpings up and down, and screamings, and cryings, and our director let us go in time to catch the last half of his acceptance speech. I cried again, because yes we can.

On the other hand, Prop 8 passed. Words cannot express my disappointment and sadness. There are so many people in California now who cannot enjoy a basic human right, because the church-based groups mistook the government for a religious authority. That's basically all it is, and it makes me hurt inside. On the bright side, I suppose, those who are already married will stay married. There's nothing people can do about that. But those who were going to get married? They have nothing now, and I cannot understand the kind of mind that would accept or encourage that.

On the right foot, our government is so very clunky and impossible and slow to act that it's really hard to get anything irredeemably stupid done. I have hope that with Obama as president, we may be able to overturn Prop 8, either by reamending the California constitution or by fighting it up to the Supreme Court. I believe that someday we can make this better, and I believe that we have hope now, which we didn't have before.

Also, Prop 4 is looking like it's not going to pass. Which makes me happier.

AND VIRGINIA WENT TO OBAMA. You guys, OMG. Virginia has been Republican for the past ten elections or something like that, and it went to Obama. That says something. Part of it must be my baby brother finally eligible to vote, but there's something else there too. Virginia, adopted home, I'm proud of you. Keep up the good work.

We've made some changes to the paid account structure. In order for people to purchase Extras (extra user pics) you'll need to have a paid account. We recommend that people purchase a year long paid account if you're going to get the extra user pics since they run for a year. If you were to purchase a 3 month paid account and 100 extra user pics, they would only be good for 3 months as they're only valid while you have an active paid account.

This change also means that instead of gaining 25 userpics (from the normal 75 paid to 100 total), you'll gain 100 or 200 (for upto 175 or 275 userpics).

Thanks!

Title: Soldier's Boy
Authors: Eleanor and Puck
Rating: PGish for now, may rise due to language used.
Genre: AU, picking up right around the end of 1x09 (The Waterbending Scroll) and continues from there.
Summary: During an encounter with pirates, the gaang picks up two new allies: A swordsman named Lee and his younger earthbending brother, Jiro. The sons of a Fire Nation soldier and a woman of the Earth Kingdom, they both seem quite willing to help the Avatar and his friends - but both of them are hiding things, from the gaang and from each other.

Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five
Chapter Six | Chapter Seven | Chapter Eight | Chapter Nine | Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven

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