Shine's Journal

Aaaaand I'm home.

( A brief synopsis of my holiday: )

And now I'm home! \o/

I should be:

--formatting stories for the Earthshattering Holiday Fic Exchange All stories are in! \o/

--making delicious baked goods to take to my family as combination presents and peace offerings

--cleaning the house

--cleaning the catbox omg THIS

--returning phone calls and emails from friends and loved ones

--finishing addressing my holiday cards [facepalm]

Instead, what am I doing?

--reading every Brendon/Spencer story I can find (which isn't many. um. I think I need recs. oh god I'm so ashamed)

--reorginizing my iTunes

[sigh]

My hometown just made me cry.

Nineteen years ago, on December 31st, I convinced my mom to let me go to a tropical fish store while we were visiting my grandmother in Niagara Falls, New York.

( In the pet store was a kitten )

I have survived Thanksgiving.

I missed you all so much! [clutches you all]

Without going into a blow-by-blow, allow me to say it was one of the most hectic weeks of my life, and I feel like a wet dishrag now that it's all over. Family issues abounded, and I don't even know what I think about that, but it's a clear three weeks until I need to worry about any of it again. (That said, I have no idea what my holiday plans are. settiai, what's your schedule looking like?)

My goal for this week can be summarized succinctly as I have GOT TO FINSH MY BETA OMG I SUCK. Also I'll get some work done in there. And watch the...eight episodes of Merlin I'm behind on?

I've been listening to Lambert's album For Your Entertainment on repeat. It has kept me sane, swear to god.

And now, a rec! ( Background for the rec )

Sucker by backinblack is one of the very few Jules/Robin fics out there. This is tragic, srsly! It's cute, perfectly in character, has just the right amount of nervous tension and relief, and is also hot like burning. I crave a sequel.

In the "laugh or cry" category, I feel like I've spent the entire day walking a tightrope of ego soothing, self-esteem boosting, and feelings-placating and trying not to slip and fall into a precipice of recriminations and anger. In unrelated news, I also welcomed my mother and sister in from out of town. [grins weakly]

After being informed by my horrified mother that you cannot, in fact, defrost your turkey in the fridge for two weeks and expect to remain salmonella-free, I now have a brand-new fresh salmonella-free turkey defrosting and brining. In a bucket. In my bathtub. o.O

The new roomie, who promised to provide the booze for dinner, has left an assortment of bottles on the counter that has me simultaneously bemused and impressed. I didn't even know they MADE organic vodka. I usually just drink the 5.49 crap.

The old roomie's birthday party was a success--the big 25!--and my attempt to make pasta primavera was terribly unauthentic but turned out pretty good anyway--sort of like a hot pasta salad. The cheesecake was a HUGE success, thank god.

Craig Ferguson seems to be basing the entire premise of his monologue tonight on masturbation. I find this hilarious.

Wish me luck tomorrow, people.

I can has power cable? YES I CAN!!

[clutches computer close] Don't ever leave me again!

So. to recap the past week:

Spent WAY TOO MANY fucking hours at the library, getting done all the work-related things I normally do sitting at home in my nightshirt sipping a glass of sherry and watching a L&O rerun out of the corner of my eye. I had no idea how much I relied on a computer for basic stuff, like, you know, READING SLASH [sob] or watching eps or movies or writing, betaing, checking email, looking up swine flu symptoms, researching mascarpone cheese and the flight speed of an unladen swallow, etc--until it was cruelly taken from me.

Accompanied the ex-roomie to a Very Important Event, which THANK GOD turned out favorably. One less thing to worry about.

Made a cheesecake according to a promisingly awesome (according to reviews) and ridiculously easy recipe (seriously, "dump a bunch of shit into a bowl, mix, and then bake" easy) which must now cool and set for four hours. Since I doubt I'll still be awake at 5am, much less in a cheesecake-eating mood, I'll let you know how it turns out on the flipside. (druidspell, wanna come over? [grins] I can feed you! Seriously, I've got more eps of White Collar... [temps shamelessly])

Finished coding a decretal and the council of Carthage, which was fun in a carefree way. Now I'm coding the council of Africa, all 105 bloody canons. [sighs] And then back to finish up the decretals. And then back to the Dacheriana. And then more Drupal. And then I teach myself how to edit TEI .rng files. gah. It's a good thing I enjoy this, because just listing that made me tired.

Reading Shadow Of The Templar, which is basically awesome original slash and quite well-written. Only one book in, so far, but my only complaint is that it needs more sex*.

In related news, I've started acquiring Suzanne Brockmann's back catalog (seriously, anyone who a) is a vocal and enthusiastic PFLAG mom, b) has an out and proud gay FBI agent in practically every book, and c) WROTE THE GAY CHARACTER'S GAY WEDDING** in a special holiday novel [hearts] deserves my money). Ditto Brotherhood of the Blade*** by Diana Gabaldon, and the rest of the Lord John books. I've decided that the only new books I'll be buying from here on will be either a) about gay characters esp. gay romances, b) by gay authors, or c) Naomi Novik****.

* This tends to be my complaint for a lot of things.
** Okay, I adored this book, but it REALLY needs more sex. Maybe I'm jaded? But it's got a freaking GAY WEDDING! One would hope that a description of a blowjob isn't going to give readers the vapors.
*** This one had sex! Sorta. It's a little vague--okay, a lot vague, in parts--but it's there. Maybe I'm spoiled, though, by the high-quality smut in fandom, because a one-line description of frottage and some reflection on "taking his arse" doesn't exactly do it for me. [sighs]
**** Because, well, DUH. [grins]

Title: Best Laid Plans
Author: Shine
Rating: G
Warnings: ( click here )

Word count: 1434
Spoilers: none
Disclaimer: I do not own them, in any way, shape, or form.
Summary: Jim's plans don't always work as expected.
Notes: I wrote this for the lovely seperis, who very graciously betaed the final product. This is for her, for being JUST THAT awesome.

( To the story )

I can has productive? Considering I didn't get out of bed until 2pm, I will defend myself by saying that while I was sitting in bed, I coded a little, got my mom and sister a B&B for when they visit me for Thanksgiving, did laundry, and created/sent out the RicStar "An Earthshattering Holiday" assignment emails. I think I even managed not to screw up my assignment system!

And then I got out of bed, showered, screwed on cabinet pulls for the kitchen cabinets, made homemade tostones* and a bean and salsa burrito, cleaned the kitchen, and made brownies.

I've got three decretals and two councils to code, and seperis's Trekfic to beta, with brownies in the oven. Life is good.

\o/

* OMG this is my new favorite snack food. Take a plaintain, green to greenish-yellow, peel and cut into half-inch rounds. Coat the bottom of a skillet with oil and heat to medium, then sautee the rounds with coarse salt sprinkled on the top. Turn when they're browned. You can take them out, smash them flat, and continue to fry them or you can just make sure they're a dark golden on each side--both ways taste great. Drain on paper towels, and dust with salt again, and lime juice. SO FREAKING GOOD, and it takes about fifteen minutes, including the peeling of the plaintain.