All is Translation, and All of Us Lost in it

Good morning, everyone! It's a beautiful day! The sun is shining! I have a long weekend to recover from my week of hell! I'm going to go shopping, make delicious foods, and watch me some due South.

But most importantly? I'm going to WRITE. :D

And so are all of you! Because guess what? The Fifth Original Fiction Drabble-thon is underway!

Have at it! ♥

OOF. Last week really knocked me on my ass - ten hours of sleep and I still feel dead. Unfortunately, it won't get much better, since I'll be doing the work of two assistants until my "partner" assistant of sorts returns from vacation on the 14th, but at the very least, my bosses will be occupied with the delegation until Wednesday.

Anyway! Like many of you, I signed up for Original Fic Bingo. Here's my card:

( Mah card, ladies and gents )

So I'm seeing a lot of you saying "I need inspiration" or "I need to warm up." Now, if only there was a convenient way we could all do that together?

OH, BUT THERE IS. :D

Anybody up for a shiny new Original Fiction Drabble-thon?

So I did not get to see Suzanne Collins yesterday, sob. ;; The buses and trains were running on a reduced schedule, and by the time I got there, the autograph line was capped. I'm sure I'll catch her again eventually, but I really wanted to have her sign something for my friend's birthday!

Unfortunately it was too hot to stay much longer at the National Book Festival. I poked through the sauna of a book sales tent recently, and I added a few more to my list. I also went into a presentation randomly to sit down, and the woman talking was Claudette Colvin, who did the same thing as Rosa Parks except several months beforehand, but the Civil Rights Movement didn't make her into an icon because she was 15 and pregnant. She was apparently part of a children/teens' book about important people forgotten by history, which is really cool.

I definitely want to try again - and get there earlier - next year, but I'm glad I went. And now I'm going to spend today watching things, tidying up, doing laundry, and hopefully doing a lot of Hungry Ground outlining.


So speaking of watching things, between Netflix streaming and fall premieres, I've been watching a ton of Western TV lately! I feel like I'm going to be more than set for Yuletide this year. :D Have some spoiler-free impressions:

Veronica Mars: Netflixed the first two seasons. LOVE LOVE LOVE the first season so very much, and even though the plot of the second season wasn't as awesome, the character moments alone were enough to make up for it. ILU Cliff.

Pushing Daisies: Such a jarring switch to make after VMars - there's so much color and perkiness it sort of made my head explode. But it was super-cute. And Lee Pace/Ned is about the closest thing to moe moe I've ever seen in an American male character.

The Dresden Files: Why did I watch so many episodes of this? It's not like it's particularly bad, but... they pretty much took away all the charm and fantastic relationships of the book series, and all that's left is the cheese. And the angst, naturally. So it's sort of dull.

Slings and Arrows: I'm making my way through the second season. This is really, really good! It's a great portrait of the crazy world of theatre, and all the little Shakespearean touches to the actors' everyday lives makes for a total geek heaven. Especially since they're now doing Macbeth, the most unsettling play ever.

Glee: The premiere was typical Glee, meaning a mix of good and WTF. But Mike Chang has dialogue! And Charice was awesome! And I take Kurt's hilarious brutal honestly towards Finn to mean that the interminable crush plotline has finally ended. So there's enough to keep me watching.

Modern Family: adhfjsks ♥ ♥ ♥ Why did it take me so long to catch up on this show? It is so friggin adorable. I love Mitchell and Cam. I'm sure that surprises no one. But I love everyone else, too.

Community: YOU GUYS, IT'S BACK. ♥ And in top form, too. The final scene with Ken Jeong was absolutely brilliant. I'm psyched for this season.

The Vampire Diaries: Well, show, I see you've wasted absolutely no time getting back to the OMG DID THAT JUST HAPPEN moments! This is why I enjoy TVD - the pacing and twists keep you on your toes. But where the hell is Alaric? Granted, I haven't watched episode 3 yet, but I NEED HIM IN MY LIFE.

And that's it for now! Off to do the breakfast thing...

Because no one ever got anything by being half-assed.

Working the 9-5(:30) life, I have a lot of time sitting at my desk or riding back and forth on the bus to think about where I want to go from here. I really like my job, and I'm starting to settle into life here, but I understand, a lot better now than I did a year ago, what keeps me going.

So for the record:

I'm going to be a published author. And I think having failed once makes that more possible than it was before. It would have been amazing to get lucky on the first try, but I have something of an advantage, because unlike last time, I know exactly what I'm doing now. I understand the odds. I know how to implement edits and when to add my own, when to obsess and when to let everything simmer. Sending e-mails to agents gave me heart palpitations when I started, but I sent over fifty, and somehow my head didn't explode from all the bad news - and for my trouble, I found people that I dream about working with every day.

And, most importantly, from talking to so many different people who want the same thing I do, I found out that something I used to tell myself when I was feeling insecure is actually true. There are a lot of people who are better than me, and quite a few who love it as much as I do - but I've yet to meet anyone who loves it more.

So mark it on your calendars, ladies! I'm going to make this happen.

All right, time for bed. But tomorrow? I'm going to get back to work. ♥

HELLO EVERYONE

IT'S A THREE-DAY WEEKEND AND IT'S A BE-YOO-TIFUL DAY ♥

This week was much busier than last week, but now I'm rested and ready to chill out. I made an omelette this morning! And I'm going to make actual real dinner tonight! But first I'm going to go on a journey to buy a wireless router and some work clothes! And then tonight I am going to CLEAN ALL THE THINGS and make my apartment pretty. ♥

And most importantly! I GOT A NETFLIX ACCOUNT, FINALLY. And I require some recs for movies and TV shows to rent. Suggestions~?

Have a great holiday, everyone!

Moved into new place!

Internet set up!

Furniture mostly set up, with the exception of the sofa, which was sold to us without screws to put it together with! (Pictures of the apartment to come when I manage to put it together, though.)

First day of work tomorrow!

Unbelievably terrified and not at all ready to be an adult!

I have lots more to say that I've been running through my head for the past couple of days... but I have to be up at 6:30 tomorrow, I haven't gotten more than four sold hours of sleep since last Monday, and I'm completely dead. More to come tomorrow night!

Still packing! Still panicking! Still writing up my Five Things lists when I have the energy/time to think/type/take pictures/etcetcetc. But I have to be a little shameless.

the ❝that's my favorite!❞ meme
A FANFICTION PRAISE MEME

I write mostly original fics obviously, so favorite project/drabble/whatevs applies. Also I'm going to echo what mekosuchinae said about pretending I'm too cool to care about comments (but really, it's all appreciated :D). Also also, let me know if you have a thread, and I will give you the love you deserve. ♥

I think I may actually crash after True Blood. I AM THAT TIRED. Last weekend at home, aaaaaaaaah.

I'm a huge fan of horror, but I'm also pretty picky when it comes down to it! Serial killers and other such slasher movies don't faze me at all - sorry, Freddy and Jason - so most of the horror/supernatural thrillers I enjoy involve ghosts, demons, and things of that nature.

Of course, since I've seen/read most of the better-known good stuff, it means that there's not a lot that gets under my skin. Actually, when something is sublimely creepy, it's more of an adrenaline rush than a chill - I'll cackle gleefully at the scary parts while everyone else is screaming.

Which is not to say that nothing scares me, because plenty does! Off the top of my head, a couple movies and shows that have creeped me out: The Shining, The Devil's Backbone and The Orphanage, the Urado arc of Ghost Hunt, and especially the Ju-on/Grudge movies, which I eventually inoculated myself to over time. And I can't forget the first movie to ever really get under my skin: The Sixth Sense. I was nine or ten years old, and I didn't sleep at all that night.

The movies that get under my skin aren't the ones with relentless scares (well, except maybe The Grudge), but they're the ones that really get my imagination going. That's the scariest thing about them, I think.

Which, finally, gets me to this rec: Lake Mungo, an Aussie indie film that the lovely pocky_slash brought to my attention last night. At first, the ghost story setup seems very standard: a teenage girl (with long black hair, natch) drowns, and her grieving family soon starts experiencing mysterious phenomena in the house. I would have thought it would play out in the usual way, but after reading some of the reviews, I knew it wouldn't. So thankfully, I decided to watch it during the day.

Lake Mungo is recorded in a faux-documentary narrative, much like another recent horror film Paranormal Activity. I enjoyed the slow build of the latter, and the tension builds even more slowly and effectively in this film. Many of the spooky inciting events from the beginning are only talked about, not shown, and the film is mostly made up of pictures, interviews, and camera footage.

While there are some genuinely creepy images, the film is really building, ever so gradually, up to one real scary moment towards the end that actually made me gasp and recoil. Which I never do! I started the movie with my computer on my lap. But after that moment? I moved it to the end of my bed. It's one of the few examples of horror where they do reveal the unknown, and it's just as scary as what you imagined, if not more so.

It's not a popcorn horror flick - don't watch it expecting things to jump out with scare chords. But if you want something sublimely unsettling that just digs its way under your skin, Lake Mungo gets my enthusiastic recommendation.

EDIT: Some spoilers in the comments!

Today is the 65th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. I always feel like words don't really do justice when I talk about this beautiful city, so I thought I'd post some of my Hiroshima pictures instead:

( 忘れないように )

I also want to link you all to this personal account of that day by Matsubara Miyoko, a remarkable woman who I had the privilege of meeting last summer. It's not an easy read, but it was very important to Matsubara-san that her story be told and remembered. I hope you'll give it a look. ♥

Imaginary Beasts #22: Oceans and Seas, is live! ♥

My story: five days with the bride of the ocean, aka Femslash by the Sea

Enjoy! ♥