the roundup

Hi! I've decided to take this journal "access" only for reasons of personal privacy. Please feel free to drop a comment if you'd like access.

(People who already have access don't need to do anything! :g: This is just for new people.)

I'm so happy Merlin is back - it's one of my favorite shows to watch with my daughter, and aside from White Collar and Leverage, the only live action show we're currently watching (the rest are all competition shows like Project Runway, Chopped, etc. heh we even watch American Handyman.)

Actually, what are some other shows we can watch together? She turns 12 next month. She loved SGA. Is Farscape suitable? I've heard good things but don't know much about it. Science fiction, fantasy, and crime/capers without too much sex or "realistic" violence are our favorite genres.

Um, it is a mark of how out of practice I am at posting that I forgot that I crosspost, skipped back a couple of years in my brain, and just posted at LJ. This is sad, people. Sad.

***here's what I posted at LJ the other day***

It would probably be nice if I updated this thing once a month or so, right? *facepalm* How are you all? What's up?

For me, the good news is that my level of work insanity has finally dropped to below threat level: bears for the first time in many moons. This is good! What wasn't so good was my cable company deciding to "upgrade" internet service in my area, which resulted in almost two weeks of spotty-to-non-existent internet access. The horror! *clings*

But now I'm back! And have internets again! So I'm even posting!

Um, I wrote some stuff? What I did for mcshep_match is still TOP SEEKRIT OMG (but I hope you go and read and enjoy all the entries during the 'fest, and hey I'm on Team McKay, not that I expect that will influence your voting or anything. :g:)

I also wrote for the Teyla Thing-a-Thon over at teylafen. A couple of people have asked if I'll continue this story, and idk! Maybe! I do have a goal of finishing at least one of my longstanding WIPs before holiday 'fest season kicks in this year, but I will certainly hold myself open to any possibilities that occur to me. :-)

A Promise Meant to Keep (1119 words) by Rustler
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Teyla Emmagan, John Sheppard
Summary:

It’s the third night that John has been missing, and Teyla can’t sleep. Written for Tielan in the Teyla Thing-a-Thon.

Fast food is a somewhat exotic novelty for my kids. We live 25 miles from the closest drive-through, and usually only hit one on a road trip into the city to visit my family. Some time last summer, my 5-year old was given a karaoke CD in a Wendy's kid's meal that featured the following four songs:

1. Dancing Machine (Jackson 5)
2. Last Dance (Donna Summer)
3. Shake Your Groove Thing (Peaches & Herb)
4. I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor)

And okay, yeah, my eyebrows were raised a little by a couple of the song selections (heh, and I now see that these CDs were yanked when some parents complained after mishearing the word "horny" in the lyrics of Last Dance - like the song isn't suggestive enough anyway, haha, that's what made you complain? And 'I Will Survive' in a kid's CD? Seriously?) 

Well, whatever, maybe it makes me the worst parent in the world, but we listen to that CD all the damned time. Whenever we're stuck in the car for a trip of more than about 1/2 hour or so, I'll hear from the back seat, "Mom? I'd really like to hear some disco," and we'll be transported for oh, about 12 minutes or so into boogie wonderland.

Little E likes all the songs, but her hands down favorite is Shake Your Groove Thing  (which up until my older daughter exasperatedly set her straight a couple of months ago, E sang as "shake your cool thing" :g:) All in all? I'll take a little Peaches & Herb over Justin Bieber any day. 

***

So yeah, I've been out of my mind busy with RL work and family stuff and OTW stuff and have barely been around at all. Hopefully I'll have a little time to do some catch up this weekend (and yeah, I know, I'm always saying that!) 

At least I'm mentally working on my SGA story? That counts for something, right? Heh.

Title: Many Different Suns
Author: rustler
Recipient: neevebrody
Prompts: Friendship/Humor, Confession, Hurt/Comfort. I hope this fits!
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Notes: An episode tag for S5ep01: Search & Rescue. Many thanks to trillingstar and mezzo_cammin for reading and encouragement. Title swiped from the lyrics of "Brothers in Arms" by Dire Straits.

Summary: He looks around and can’t even recognize where he is. It’s not a room anymore. There’s no ceiling, but no daylight either. Small fires seem to be burning here and there, but not spreading. At least not yet. Between the dim light and thick dust, he can’t make out more than his immediate surroundings. He doesn’t see Sheppard.

Many Different Suns (1385 words) by Rustler

Whoa, where'd the last three weeks go??? *looks around*

So I'm not the best at memes! I'll give that one another try when I'm a wee bit less crazed. Heh.

Big doings at the AO3 -- our zippy new servers were installed yesterday! Here's hoping the Yuletide slowdowns are a thing of the past! ::knock wood:: I have to take a moment to gush over how amazingly awesome everyone on the Archive team is. When I think about how hard everyone works: coders, testers, systems people, support, tag wranglers -- all volunteer, all out of love -- on top of whatever obligations they have to work or school -- it makes me kind of verklempt. *fans self*

(Which reminds me! I proposed a panel for Muskrat Jamboree called OTW: The AO3 and Beyond and I hope if you're attending, you'll vote for it, and then attend! So you can see me have to try to mod a panel and get all put on the spot. Heh.)

After much hemming and hawing, I did sign up again for satedan_grabass the John-Ronon Thingathon. It's good to have enabling friends who will egg you on for all manner of ill-advised activities. (Time? I have no time? Pish!) Anyway, I'm looking forward to it.

I'm caught up on Top Chef and Southland. Behind on White Collar (dratted schedule conflicts!) and Fringe.

Busy as hell, but life is good!

For yuletide I wrote:

Coping Mechanisms (1841 words) by Rustler
Fandom: Alien Series
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Dwayne Hicks/Ellen Ripley
Summary: He catches Ripley’s hand in mid-arc. It’s shaking, more with anger, he realizes, than fear. He brings her cigarette to his own mouth for a drag, and she lets him. They’re connected now. For fucked up reasons, but whatever. It’s not going to change.

I'm actually pretty happy with how this one came out, and the people who liked it, seemed to like it a lot -- including my recipient. So, yay! I'll count it as a Yuletide win.

***

For sga_santa I wrote:

Under the Influence
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Rodney darted his eyes around the room even though there was no one else present to witness this new level of peculiar behavior. He'd only ever had Sheppard pressed against him like this semi-conscious and bleeding from a gunshot wound. Even after a few beers, hell, even after more than a few beers, Sheppard wasn't... snuggly.


From my grand idea to "get John stoned for Christmas." I ran out of time to really go where I originally envisioned, but this came out cute thanks to trillingstar who kicked my ass early and often. :g: Bummer that my recipient dropped out of the fest and I never heard from her. Ah well, that's how the fannish cookie crumbles.

***

The only other thing I wrote this year was a little thing for satedan_grabass back in May :

The Fallen (2120 words) by Rustler
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ronon Dex/John Sheppard
Summary: The aftermath of Broken Ties

I struggled hard with this one. This seems to be a problem I have particularly with SGA -- the only stories I manage to finish are for deadlined prompt-driven 'fests, and the very deadline that gets me to finish at all, pushes me to write stories that don't necessarily translate everything that was in my head. The one SGA story I've written that wasn't under deadline, was Standard Deviations, which was 3 1/2 years ago. Yikes.

( Which brings me to this year's Resolutions of a Sort )

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted here, huh? Things just get so busy, I compose posts in my head that never wind up making it to screen.

Both my daughters were involved in a surprisingly huge production of The Nutcracker (I had no idea, really, until I went to the first technical rehearsal and realized that for curtain call there were like 100 people on the stage.) Being the good natured slob that I am, I somehow got volunteered to help backstage, working with the dancers.

As anyone who has ever met me can attest: I have not much in the way of girly skills. And suddenly I'm responsible for putting hair up in buns and doing stage makeup and sewing ribbons on toe shoes and all kinds of stuff that I know nothing of. So there I am frantically watching YouTube videos by terrifying pageant moms and 14 year old ballerinas in a desperate crash course, just so I wouldn't, like, embarrass my kids by having everyone's hair fall out on stage. Well! Let me tell you, by the second performance, I had a freaking assembly line going! Buns for everyone! And those suckers Did. Not. Move. (My little one fell asleep in hers after the Saturday night show and woke up Sunday morning still perfectly shellacked. Ahaha.) Kids were fighting over me to do their eyeliner! It was very, very bizarre. But the girls had a blast and the show was a big hit. Thank god for YouTube is all I can say. Those pageant moms are still terrifying, but damn, they know their shit.

Anyway! I survived  getting my sga_santa  story in (and received a truly lovely gift! Shepherd's Song is full of John love and team-y goodness, which is, you know, kind of my thing. :g:)

yuletide up next! Then oz_magi (Eep, am I really running that again this year? Ahahaha. I kill me, no, really.) 

Thank you for the lovely cards from cheights , clionaeilis , and tobyfan . I have been so crummy about signing up for card exchanges with people for so long now -- wow, you guys must still have me on your lists from many moons ago. :g: 

I guess the next time I post here it will be story reveals and reveling in yuletide goodies, so until then: Happy Holidays to all! :-)

I guess it's time for me to actually start thinking about my Yuletide requests and offers, huh?

Two (maybe 3) of my requests will be recycles from previous years. I frequently let one roll until it gets taken. Last year, I finally got a lovely, perfect Ripley/Hicks Aliens story (Subtle Salvation by Abyssinia, in case you're curious.) So the slot that request had occupied (for several years!) is now free. But you can request up to four... Decisions, decisions!

Meanwhile, I've got unprecedented progress on my sga_santa  story! Last year I was typing furiously right down to the wire, but this time around I made this my wrisomifu  project and have managed a complete outline (I almost never have a freaking outline, you guys) and am nearly 1k words into the story itself. Yay!

Also, today I'm sending out the initial Wish assignments for oz_magi . Maybe next year I'll see if I can run it using the AO3's challenge tools, but for now, the matching process is so idiosyncratic and the challenge is so small, it probably makes sense to just keep doing it by hand. Anyway, for those of you who have made claims, look out for your assignment soon!

::pours more coffee in anticipation of a very busy day::

Watching footage of the Chilean miner rescue makes me weep.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/22309266