Thoughts on the Journey

I've been having a wonderfully lazy Saturday in my new place after a week of various errands and getting familiar with Boston. Yesterday, I got an email from the library temp agency and there's a possible job for me. If it works out, the schedule would be weird but doable as a reference librarian. Friday night, I went to the Public Market for a wonderful meet up with genarti, Jothra and Sandry. I loved how quickly it all came together and to talk, as much as possible with the live music but it was great. The Public Market happened to be having an open house that night and I'll definitely be going back there.

My apartment's really coming together and in my unpacking I've discovered that I have so many notecards. I realized this is a great way to share my new address and send people mail, if you'd like a card, comment.

There have been a few bumps, I think I need a stool for my new bed which I bought at a thrift store before I moved. Its a beautiful antique bed and I love it, but its very high up. Another issue is that my hall light went out and as always in a new place, there's figuring out changing it. So I'm renting in a place that also has condos so condo association and landlord who both went, not our job. So I need to take care of that, I was going to do it today but somehow I did something and my ankle's been hurting, so today I've been resting. Also I had a true headache dealing with a bank as I had to set something up for rent and its mind boggling how difficult it can be to move money from one place to another.

At the moment, I'm trying to do some writing for the Porn Battle. As often happens, the fic I'm writing so far has no sign of any kind of ship but I'm pretty happy with it.

Later I'm hoping to do some catching up on my book reviews on Goodreads which stopped around the holidays and then with the moving haven't picked up. I like having them done as its a good way to keep up with what I'm reading and be part of the book world.

I'm slowly getting things accomplished as I think about all that happened at Chessiecon and where I want to be next. I'm working on getting myself out of where I am now and to a place where I'm living near friends. There are jobs out there, its a matter of getting in the door and being the right fit.

In the meantime, I've written up a new blog post about the films I saw at the Rehoboth Beach Film Festival and I'm going to do an in depth one for Chessiecon.

I also wanted to remind everyone that I love sending out cards and if you'd like one or your address has changed, let me know here. All comments on there are screened and if you don't want a card but instead want a fic or also want a fic, let me know.

My Yuletide and Treat fic are both going along, the ideas are there its just getting the words to work.

I wasn't going to do cards at first since I wasn't sure about time but then today while doing some shopping, I found some adorable ones.

Now I'd like to send out cards. I have addresses from past years for many of you, but there are also new people following me. If you'd like a card, please comment with your address, all comments will be screened. I'm going to try and get them out as soon as possible.

Today was the Public Library volunteer event, which means I'm in a holiday mood and picked up a lovely small poinsettia.

This weekend has been wonderfully quiet for me. I just came back from Ann Arbor, where I was able to finish my last holiday shopping for my family, have a great meal with Rick and get The Hobbit soundtrack, the deluxe version with all the bells and whistles. I'm starting to realize that in one week, I will have finished the first half of my first year as a middle/high school librarian and that for all the things I still have to do, this job is working. Its complicated but all the tricky parts can be worked with and will get better with time. I need to hold onto that when the kids are getting rowdy or I'm not sure anyone's hearing me, I'm making this work.

The big stuff left for the holidays is getting paper and printing out my holiday cards and sending them. That also means finding where I packed the connector cord for my computer to my printer, its not too deep in, but I don't know where it is. If I can get them printed out before I leave then I can send them from my parents place. They won't be sent until after Christmas but that's why they're holiday cards. I'm also hoping to get writing on holiday fics, the ideas are swirling around in my head but I haven't been able to pin them down yet. I'm still open to prompts here as I love writing for everyone. Last week was focusing on my Yuletide, which is written, betaed and posted. I've never been this early before its odd and nice.

As its been floating around, I thought I'd also do the Yuletide meme. This is my fourth year doing Yuletide, I started during my first year of graduate school. I love being a part of it and its inspired me to do other exchanges, as well as learning a lot about how I write.

2009: They are Mine. Sandman with Bast, Daniel and references to Dream. My first year I wasn't sure how best to do offers and did too many Anys, so ended up with a request for I think Aphrodite/Pandora slash that made me boggle. I had recently read a wonderful anthology of short stories based around Sandman called The Sandman: Book of Dreams and my person had a request for a story about Bast. I think I wrote this story a day or two days before the deadline.

2010: By the Fire. Old Kingdom set during Lirael and a missing moment conversation between Yrael and Kibeth. This year I was better about only offering what I thought I could write. This is one of my favorite fics that I've written for Yuletide, because I feel like I captured the characters. Though this was another one that I wrote closer to the deadline, I was getting better about writing long stories but they're not easy for me. One reason I signed up to Yuletide was to get over a mental block I had about word lengths due to not finishing my masters in Wellington.

2011: On the way back. Hexwood centered on Vierran and Mordion. For this story, I ended up doing more writing ahead of time but it was a challenging one as its a tricky canon. In the end I think I posted it the day before the due date if not on it as I was driving home.

Its interesting to look at my offers as I've started using Yuletide as a challenge for myself in offering to write for fandoms that I like but don't normally write. Thanks to Yuletide, I've lost a good bit of my fear for writing in new fandoms and word lengths. I still have moments of eep, what am I doing but its better. This year mine is actually turned in early, its my longest one yet and in a new fandom.

Since Wednesday, I've been in hanging out with dodger_sister and her family, who have welcomed me in. Her and her sister's cats have been cute and kind to me and filled up my Twitter feed with pictures, I've had delicious food and been able to sleep in.

This was the break I hadn't realized I needed. I mean I knew I needed it but my body has gone, oh true sleep, yay and I've had long and late mornings. The room I'm staying in is very dark as well, which means I've been sleeping even later than I normally would. Its just would I needed. We haven't done too much, which is also nice. On Thursday, there was a Thanksgiving meal at about 2 pm at their mother's house and then a game of scrabble after. Then we watched episodes of Buffy starting with Pangs as that's one of their traditions.

Friday was set aside for going to see Red Dawn because A loved the original and had to see the remake. It was one of the stupidest movies I've seen in a long time and the shaky cam made me nauseous enough that I had to put my head down at some points. The good parts in it were the opening credits, which spliced together real news to build up the threat of North Korea and Chris Hemsworth being a jaded Marine. Everything else was pretty awful, there were some badass lady fighters but the brother relationship that was meant to be at the heart really didn't work as they didn't look like brothers. The actor they chose looked more like Peter Petrelli's younger brother and Josh Hutcherson who was in it would have made far more sense as Hemsworth's brother. Then we came back, had leftover turkey for dinner and played a movie trivia game. One thing I really enjoy about A and her family is this love of playing games, its a great way to spend time. After our game, I introduced them all to Stardust, which I had brought with me and it was just the right movie, fun, silly and pretty.

Today A and her family are having another family meal, which it doesn't make sense for me to go to. Instead I went to a lovely Chinese restaurant for lunch, wandered through Toys'r'us which is selling a lot more electronics than I remembered. I spent a long time staring at all the fun action figures, but in the end only picked up an adorable Boo in costume plush for a present. I really need to get on my holiday shopping, but I do have ideas.

Also a reminder that I'm sending out cards again this year, if your address has changed, please let me know here. I'm hoping this afternoon to try and get more done on my Yuletide, which I'm happy with my progress but its nowhere near done yet.

Since the posts are starting to go up, I thought it was time to put mine up.

Every year I make holiday cards usually with a photograph that I took myself. I love sending these out as I consider everyone reading a friend and it makes me happy to send out some joy during this season.

Now addresses have a way of changing, so please comment if you would like a card and with your address if its recently changed. All comments are screened.

At this point I don't have a DW mirror but will probably pick one up during this break as I don't see myself leaving LJ. I've been here since I think 2001 or 2002 when erinmuse gave me an invite code and through it I've found Milliways which is one of my true online homes. I just don't want to miss all of you who are going over to DW. LJ frustrates me, but I don't want to spend time and energy being angry at it during this holiday season. Instead I'm going to create a mirror, find ways to keep doing what I do normally and try not to lose track of anyone.

I was thinking of creating a mirror today but then I came back from shopping and mailing my holiday cards and my parents' connection decided to not work for me. So it took me about an hour to get online due to resets and other things, which has been my online annoyance for the day. My aim is to try and set one up during the holidays and I'll do another post and then go and find out who everyone is.

In book thoughts, I just finished a book that reminded me of how much I love the history of tall ships; The Fighting Temeraire: The Battle of Trafalgar and the Ship that inspired J.M.W. Turner's Most Beloved Painting. If you love the history of ships and the Napoleonic war, go read this book, the author weaves a fantastic story, the illustrations are gorgeous and it's a great book. I finished reading it while sitting in my favorite cafe in Lewes and eating my regular meal there.

My parents are currently off to New York city to watch an opera, so I get to have a quiet night here on my own, which will probably include RP, writing and laziness. Also I'm going to get some pictures onto my computer as a few of them will be used for presents but there will be a post of them later. Life is complicated but overall good.

I'm currently collecting words for another round of the five words meme as I love it. Also I have many ideas for writing and posting but today when I have the time, don't have the ideas. Things will come together, I just need to give myself some time to put on music and just write. My Yuletide fic is started and I know what's going to happen but again, need to focus on it.

I spent most of today collecting present ideas for when I have the money and I'm looking forward to driving home.

My holiday card is designed and once I get the paper will be sent out so if you'd like a card and haven't left your address and prompt for gift fics, the entry is still open here.

So now to do another meme that's been going around and one I like as I find thinking about couples fascinating.

Leave a ship here that I know, any ship (canon or AU, realized or unrealized, that only lives in RPland), and I will tell you my opinion on:

who is the big spoon/little spoon
what is their favorite non-sexual activity
who uses all the hot water in the morning
what they order from take out
what is the most trivial thing they fight over
who does most of the cleaning
what has a season pass in their DVR
who controls the netflix queue
who calls up the super/landlord when the heat’s not working
who steals the blankets
who leaves their stuff around
who remembers to buy the milk
who remembers anniversaries

I always forget how busy Thanksgiving is even when I have a longer break. There are just so many things to do and there never seems to be time to just sit.

I'm hoping to have that at the moment as my mom and I managed to navigate the outlets for some great shopping. I have a beautiful pair of new boots, two sweaters, bras and underwear and the second and third books in the Iron Druid series. Also I had a productive meeting this morning and now can pause.

Tomorrow I'll be on the move again as I have a meeting in Philadelphia on Monday morning that I need to figure out how to get there and then I'll be heading back to Michigan on Tuesday.

I want to use this post to let people know about holiday cards. What I do for cards is use a picture I've taken and make it into a card. I love the idea of writing something as a gift as well.

The comments on this post are screened so if you'd like a card leave your address and a prompt if you'd like me to write you a piece of fic.

Even if you think I already have your address, please leave it again. This makes it easier for me to see who to send to.

My main goal when driving today was to pick up the birthday package that my parents sent me which had been left at the main post office. Usually the postal workers just rest parcels outside but apparently we have a new person so off to the office I went. Now I had never been to this post office before as there's one I can walk to so that meant I got lost in Ann Arbor. Not terribly lost just turned around as it was tricky to see where to turn and the post office wasn't well labeled. I finally found it and now have a package to open next Wednesday on my birthday.

After that I went looking for lunch and pulled into this shopping area parking lot and the Zingerman's Roadhouse where a farmer's market was going on. Today was actually the first day and this was a brand new market, which meant wonderful treats. My lunch was a chili hot dog from Zingerman's, I bought some fresh spearmint to make homemade mint tea with and some local chicken wings to eat soon.

I had an amazing ten minute chair massage that felt much longer and I think I might go back to these people for a proper massage around my birthday, the prices are good and they're within walking distance. The woman who massaged me asked great questions and listened to me, she really picked up on how tense I've been. My favorite part of farmer's markets is the conversations and I kept getting into them at this one. I will definitely be back.

Now I just uploaded so many pictures as I have this habit of not emptying my camera until its got around a hundred pictures in it. I don't know why, I think its a leftover from when I had a film camera and wanting to make it worthwhile when I put things online. What that means is that I have lots of pictures of flowers, animals, buildings and my new haircut to share. In this post, I'm going to just do a few of my favorites and then try and put the others into slightly organized posts.


My summer haircut, I like it but think it will look even better when it grows out a bit. The lighting's odd since I'm in my hallway but this is the best picture for seeing the full effect.

( Spring and Winter and I take too many pictures. )

I think that's enough pictures for now. More will come later.