Viola

My favorite comment on WSU's mauling of Notre Dame yesterday, to advance to the Sweet Sixteen:

From the Seattle P-I: "Somebody hand me a Rwandan espresso! Wow! Allez Les Cougs!"

So, my NCAA tourney bracket? Is supremely fucked. (I believed in George Mason. And Baylor.) But, then, who in their right mind would have picked four 12-13 seeds to advance to Round 2? No one, that's who. At least I can put my instilled, lifelong hatred of Notre Dame* to good use tomorrow. Wazzu buried Winthrop 71-40 yesterday and it was glorious -- but ND is a much better offensive team than Winthrop, so we will see.

And, speaking of sports, there is this:

( From 'The Geek Rock Series': 'Brett Favre or Peyton Manning?' )

*This is entirely my parents' fault.

These days most of my writing energy (and what little time I have to write) goes into my original projects. Tonight though I was picking through my old fic files, and found an unposted piece that I'd totally forgotten about. I'd originally started it for a drabble challenge. It wound being too long for a drabble, but not substantive enough for a ficlet either. That being said, I think I'll post it anyway (a few years after the fact) just for fun. :)

Title: Grief
Fandom: The Lone Gunmen/The X-Files
Summary: Post-Jump the Shark Jimmy/Yves, albeit in a sad, dark, drunken way...

( There was a bar six blocks from Arlington, with peanut shells on the floor and a jukebox that only ever seemed to play the blues. )

I can't be the only one who thinks One Tree Hill would be vastly more interesting if the central love story were Peyton/Brooke... right?

(Apparently, this is what it takes to get me to post something.)

It's not often anymore that I have an entire afternoon to sit by myself and not do much these days. When I do, I try to tinker away at least one of the ongoing writing projects I have hanging around. Some are originals, some are old fanfic series (some are new fics, but I'm trying not to do those until I finish what's on my plate). So here's a section from this afternoon's efforts:

From The Geek Rock Series (LGM/X-Files, ongoing series):

( 'This is the most boring stake-out duty we have ever done,' Langly whined, tossing his binoculars onto the van’s passenger seat. )

A meme, of sorts, via praetorianguard

( All about me: )

In all honesty, the most interesting thing about the ASU-Oregon game is the anticipation of whatever crazy bullshit the Oregon coach's wife is going to pull this week. (John Canzano is, by all reports, kind of asstastic, but still...)

Nebraska's down by a touchdown against Kansas, right now, but Ganz looks really promising at QB so far.

I'm not sure I'll be able to watch WSU-Cal, though, what with Dwight Tardy out for the season and Cougs' tendency to utterly collapse on the road.

Also? Go Stanford.

I'll take the W, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't still like to see Doba given a gold watch and our sincere thanks at the end of the season. Doba may be one of the nicest guys in college football and all, but the program has floundered hopelessly since Mike Price got exiled to UTEP.

That being said, it's an overall good week for the Cougs: Wazzu basketball is #10 in the pre-season ESPN/USA Today coaches' Top 25.

(The Beavers handled Stanford pretty easily yesterday, but I still think Tavita Pritchard is a good QB -- and he could have been ours, if the recruiting priorities weren't so messed up.)

Meme: Post the first and last lines of your most recent (unfinished) fic.

So here's the first and last lines from the fic I worked on most recently.

From The Geek Rock Series:

First line: She was waiting in the bar when he arrived.
Last line: They pulled out onto the highway, Byers took a deep breath, and began to head west.

A bit from Session 3 of the The Solitude Sessions, to keep the momentum going.

( From Session 3: Honeymoon Suite )

Coolest thing done this week: My boyfriend and I went to a barndance last night, complete with a bonfire, hayrides, square dancing and candy apples. It was truly awesome. All these 20- and 30-something urban dwellers eating BBQ, drinking (organic) beer and learning how to "take a walk" and "birdie in a cage." They were selling homemade pies, hot cider and pick-your-own pumpkins, too. Just lovely. One of the best things about Oregon is how urban and rural coexist in better harmony than just about anywhere else I've lived. The results are usually truly delicious.

In unrelated news- I feel the need to point out (for myself if no one else) that I plotted out the end of Dreamwalk Blue long before the release of the final Harry Potter book, let alone this revelation.

I feel somewhat prescient. Half-prescient, anyway.

So I was wrong. Last Saturday was the worst football day ever. I can only remember one season since the November afternoon in 1992 that Drew Bledsoe and a snowy end zone made me a Cougar fan, that they've sucked this badly. I know there were dark times in the 70s and 80s, but that was before my time.

FSN replayed the 2002 Apple Cup the other night and even though WSU lost that one, it just made me sad for the days when Wazzu and UW were both, you know, good. And the outcomes actually had some stakes attached.

But, hey, non-conference b-ball starts Nov. 4 -- and there's a home game vs. Idaho the weekend we're going to be in Pullman.

Worst football day ever. Oh, the Cougs. Oh, the Beavs. Oh, the humanity.

I'm also sitting on my hands to keep from replying to this thread. Not every woman who ever beer bonged at a Date Dash got a C-average in General Studies and went on to become a pharmaceutical sales rep, for fuck's sake. The Linux club's fundraiser is probably in questionable taste but a) they are in college b) it was their idea, so they aren't being 'humiliated' by anyone and c) Beauty and the Geek still gets pretty good ratings.

A cool meme, via lizbee.

What is my friends list writing at the moment? (Or even if you aren't on my friends list.)

Post an excerpt, anything from a sentence to something more substantial, from your current WiP into my comments. Post anything you like, fanfiction, original stuff, poems, your graduate thesis... If you're writing it, share it with me. :)

At my work, we have large whiteboards and dry-erase markers in all the kitchens. People usually write silly questions, movie quotes or polls, stuff like that.

Right now, in response to the current silly question of the day ("Who would win in a fight?") someone has written, in five-inch-high, bright green red letters:

"Ron Weasley's mom has got it goin' on."

My entire day is made. :)

I've been re-reading the Harry Potter books, in preparation for the Potterdammerung.

I'd actually forgotten how enjoyable these books are. They're not perfect, they're not great literature, but they are a sweet, fun adventure with just enough elements of darkness and wry humor to make them thoroughly charming. It's a nice reminder.

Apparently, the dog likes them, too. I walked into the bedroom yesterday and caught him licking Order of the Phoenix.



I was originally supposed to be up in Seattle on the evening of the 20th, but now it looks like I'm going to be staying home. My boyfriend refuses to read the books or see any of the movies until they've all been released, so I needed to find some like-minded types to go watch the Potter-pocalypse with me. Luckily, Michael (formerly device55) and I are going to get tanked enjoy a cocktail or two on Friday evening, and then head over Powell's to people watch. So, Portlanders on my friends list, I might see you there. :)

I'm trying to be better about posting here, despite how busy I currently am. :) I'm aiming for at least once a week, plus commenting on other people's posts. So, this week I've got two things...

1. Meme, via musesfool: Post first lines from thirty of your stories. This is a cool one. Patterns tend to appear in the devices we as authors use to initiate a story, that maybe we and even our readers don’t see until we put them all next to each other.

It's a cool exercise to do, and a very timely one for me. We were discussing first lines of novels and short stories vs. one-line pitches for television shows in my writing class last night. A story's first line can be ambiguous, but should also evoke a sense of place, time, character or mood in the reader. A story pitch has to do all those things, while getting as much relevant information to the listener as possible -- all in one sentence. Both are the 'hook' that gets people to buy your product.

Here are a couple of my first lines that I like best, and then the rest are below the cut:

When they were sixteen, Julia dyed her hair purple. [Amour]

The leaves are dying when Daniel brings Vala home. [Mysteries]

There are men, Mara knows, who love words. [Entropy]

The three of them went everywhere together that summer: Meg, Veronica and Lilly's ghost. [All Over But the Crying]

( 30 First Lines )

2. iamtheenemy gave me some great feedback as part of the 2007 Feedback Exchange. The challenge is an extremely cool idea and led me to discover some fic that I might not have stumbled across otherwise. I highly recommend checking it out, if you haven't already done so.

Meme: Name three fics you think I will never, ever, ever write. In return, I will attempt to write a snippet of one of them.... or, you know, all of them if people want. :)

In other news, I haven't been around much online lately, largely because I have been putting most of my spare creative energy into an original project. I'm pretty psyched about this because I never seem able to make time for those. I decided to take a writing class that would force me to do it, for a grade, and it seems to be working out well so far. I'm very excited about the concept I'm working on, and it feels like forever since I've had that kind of inspiration.