katharos

My contract has been extended! I am now in gainful employment until the end of December. Woot! Possibility it might be extended until March but that is dependant on funding. Anyway, am very happy!

I've been eyeing up the post-a-day memes that have been floating around in the thought that they would be good for getting in the habit of posting more regularly. And then I saw this one which looked fun - and achievable! Ganked from

senmut who came up with it.

Day 1 – What about fanfic in general makes you read it?
Day 2 – What theme(s) do you love to read most in fanfic?
Day 3 – What Character archetypes drive your interest in fanfic?
Day 4 – How does writing style affect how you read fanfic?
Day 5 – What kind of comments do you use for feedback and why?
Day 6 – When do you read what kinds of fanfics?
Day 7 – When you do comment, how do you handle the author response or lack of it?

( Day 1 – What about fanfic in general makes you read it? )

I've got about six bites that are driving me nuts. Since almost everyone else in the family is similarly afflicted suspicions have landed firmly on Tessie-dog. Said Tess is now skulking around reproachfully with a load of stinky stuff on the back of her neck. That or we got them out at in a friend's garden (while spending a relaxing evening hauling upright an apple tree that had fallen down and digging out a hazel stump!) At the moment we're counting each others' bites and keeping an eye out for new ones.

Also on Saturday I entered the Village Show for the second year running. To understand the Village Show you must understand that it is controlled by the WI. For WI read: Mafia. And their assorted cliques of clubs, allotment associations etc... Into this nest of infamy of precise entrance guidelines shared only with said members (and probably burned after reading) I, innocent lamb, wandered last year. And won Best in Show for the photography section.

This year I entered again. And won it again.

...I'm not sure I feel safe walking the streets? *grin* One old dear came up to Mum and enquired whether I had won last year as well, hadn't I? *long pause* "Well, she must have a very good camera."

BURN.

The judge left lovely comments on my entry cards though and some tips which was really nice! I won First, Second, and Third place in three different categories. I also won first place on the tray bake competition. Three layer cake - dense brownie, vanilla cheesecake, and raspberry cream. Really, really delish.

All joking aside - I love the village show. It's one of those traditions you worry about disappearing, but it's got bigger over the past few years. And I'm really, genuinely, unironically thrilled to have won. *grin*

Went to Corfu for two weeks in August. (As we've done for the past thirteen or so years? We stay with the same people, in the same place - this year we had a ground floor apartment instead of our usual top floor! We were excited!) Anyway ate, swam, lazed in the sun, read. Read a LOT.

Unexpected star - The Third Man by Peter Mandelson. It's a REALLY good read - he constructs a great narrative. And it's fascinating. A lot of the things the book talks about happened while I was still a pre-teen with zero interest in politics but their aftershocks are still reverberating through the country now. It's also just great for an exploration of the murky underside of politics and the relationships that shape them and it's fun to pick through the layers and try to figure out what's truth what's spin and what's truth from another point of view.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin. - I ADORED this book. Adored it. I re-read it once and my favourite bits four times while still on holiday. It breaks several fantasy molds. It's a tale of gods and betrayal and screwed up family relationships and love always love. It's written in first person and the main character's voice is fabulous and gripping.

Soulless - Confession. I have a guilty love for urban fantasy particularly the kind with werewolves and vampires. Unfortunately most of them now bore me stupid. Soulless is just sheer good fun. It never takes itself too seriously it's got great characters and it's DIFFERENT. It's set during the Victorian period and the Werewolves and Vampires revealed themselves in Henry VIII reign. Ridiculous supernatural and Victorian social mores abound! Alexis, the heroine, is wonderful - extremely sensible and practical.

We also managed to find a place we'd never been to before - these two tiny churches/nunneries near the south of the ireland. Really exquisitely tiny. Also right by the end of the airport's single runway so we watched planes taking off and landing. There was a causeway you could walk out across the bay over, and it passed right under the flight path. No big passenger plane landed while we were stood there unfortunately *sulks*. Planes always look absurd close to land. I got a few pictures of these enormous metal machine hanging motionless in the air only a few metres above land - they look photoshopped.

Have made my Yuletide nominations. Three re-nominations from past years - Black Jewels Trilogy, D.Grayman, and Vagrant Story (Am in the city! So pretty!) - and three completly new ones I have bewailed the lack of before. Diana Wynne Jones' Archer's Goon, LJ Smith's The Forbidden Game, and Susan Price's Elfgift Duology. *crosses fingers and hopes*

In other news, I start my job on monday! *puts head down on desk and laughs hysterically*

Honestly, I think that makes it four times now I've had cause to cheer in joy and relief 'I have a job!' For the same job.

At least I have a job title now. And will be going in at some point before the end of this week to sign the contract. So at least things are moving forward now. *bites nails*

My sister did an online supermarket order the other day, asking for two packs of organic chicken breasts with skin. Instead of receiving standard chicken breasts, the geniuses at the store substituted organic chicken drumsticks with skin. Sometimes I think they do it for the lols. So I am making chicken soup. No idea how it will turn out.

And it's back to the waiting game again today, jobwise. *wry* Assuming that means I start on Wednesday.

Been a slow day. Read up on stuff for starting. Played a little Vagrant Story. Plotted a bit for NaNo. Also submitted descriptions for my two adult dragons to DragCave. *sheepish*

Made a Sausage Casserole for tea. It turned out very nice so copying basic recipie
here so I don't forget it.

( Read more... )

So much for my personal vow to post more frequently. :p

Okay, most important thing to have happened in our household since I last posted? MY SISTER HAS CHOSEN HER UNIVERSITY AND COURSE!!! WOOT!!!! *THROWS CONFETTI*

You have to understand, for the past eighteen months to two years, in every conversation this family has had amongst itself, with friends, with random, very confused strangers the phrases 'What/where should Haz do/go to university?' have inevitably cropped up. But the choice has been made! She is going to do Natural Sciences (the English Lit graduate stares blankly) at Queen Mary's in London. *fingers crossed* Waiting to hear back from them now.

This miraculous development came about as a result of a trip to London a couple of weekends ago to a visit day. (The campus has an old Jewish graveyard right in the centre. How cool is that? *envious*)( Read more... )

Weekend after that concluded with the four of us pushing a piano down the road.

( Read more... )

I then went to visit

lycoris for three days which was awesome - I hadn't seen her in months!

( Read more... )

Then, last friday, after getting back, I went to see Baroness Warsi give a talk at a local college. She's the Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion, the youngest member of the House of Lords, and the one who went out to bring back the teacher from the teddy bear called Muhammed crisis. And she was awesome and loveley and very, very interesting. Even if she is a Conservative. *grin*

And that would be everything except that this evening as Tess (the dog) and I were coming back from our walk a cat ran out into the road and was hit by a car. I saw the front tires hit it as it screeched to a halt and it kind of spun around and ran back the way it came. I couldn't find it then - it must have hid in the house's garden. A few years ago my Mum hit a cat which was able to run off, but it was later found in a hole where it had crawled to die. (This story is a source of instant guilt even now.) So I dropped Tess off back home (who was not, I felt, conducive to the cat hunt) and went back. I rang the doorbell but no one answered and, since the garden gate was open, went through to have a look around. This resulted in a woman and me giving each other the fright of our lives when we saw each other through the french windows. I explained what had happened and what I was doing and she was very sympathetic and worried - she thought it might be the cat belonging to the woman opposite which often comes and watches them through the window. So then I had to go back across the road to tell this woman that her cat might have been knocked over by a car. And she was so, so lovely - she kept thanking me for coming to tell her, that it was better to know than to wonder. When I left they were calling for the cat - I've no idea if they've found him or not. I want to go back and find out the end of the story - but then again, I don't.

In happier things - this time tomorrow I might have my hands upon Vagrant Story which will be the first game I have bought for myself in years but cutscenes - and

ciceqi's fics - have seduced me.

And finally: Dragons. I succumbed.