Thoughts on the Journey

I had high hopes for this weekend but its ended up being a little off. Yesterday I volunteered at the Boston Public Library book sale which was quieter than other times. The part that was hard was before I went to the sale, I had this moment of realizing that I can't look for books for my sister anymore. She's not around to read them and I think that pang is echoing through me. I had plans for sending things and the other volunteers even invited me out to dinner but I'd run out of social juice by the end of my volunteering. Though there was one very cool moment, in the back room where all the sale stuff lives, they have books that are sold online. One of them was a hardcover, first edition, autographed by Pratchett copy of Good Omens, it cost 250 dollars but I was able to hold it and look at it.

Today has been quiet which I've needed as I'm sore and tired. I'm hoping to write some cards to my nephews in France and maybe try and send them from the college mailbox. Today's the youngest birthday and they're both into Spiderman so I found cute Spiderman cards, because each boy needs to get something. Last week was okay, work has gone into a pretty good space other than the whole someone else will be hired hanging over me, while also doing prep work for the summer and next semester. I'm ready to have my week off at the end of the month as I think I'm much more aware of all the ways my boss and I don't work. Good news is that I'll be getting a nice refund from my taxes and it actually feels like Spring.

All my writing feels like its kind of mirroring the weather in this mix of thaw and frost again. I've written the start of something that I really like, an everyone lives AU but focused on Jyn and Cassian's daughter on Fest fighting the First Order. I want to write more for it when I can find more words for it.

Oh and I finally finished watching the Umbrella Academy, which was okay. It looked cool but I never really cared for the characters like I was expecting to. I kept thinking about Preacher which has a similar vibe in terms of stylized violence and outsized personalities, but the characters felt realer to me.

Life has been busy for me. It went down for a bit but I have a new fact checking job which makes me happy and ineedmyfics happened. This is small but one of my favorite exchanges.

In news that I blame Netflix for, I've kind of fallen into Friday Night Lights, I actually own the first season DVD which I bought at some point and only watched the first disc. I think I bought it because someone played Tim in Milliways and then found it on sale. Well, its all on Netflix and I love this show. Its amazing to believe that it was started in 2006 considering the issues they took on and I'm already writing fic. I'm now allowed to play Matt Saracen anywhere or Obi-Wan Kenobi, which is the other fandom I've fallen into. The Clone Wars is so good and I've gotten into some of the novels.

The fic I got was wonderful about Sam Wilson and his friendship with Natasha and a great Clint cameo. I adore the way Sam's POV is written and how much he sees.

trouble needs a home (1765 words) by paperclipbitch
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Natasha Romanov & Sam Wilson, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov
Characters: Sam Wilson (Marvel), Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton
Additional Tags: Fic Exchange, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Friendship, mild descriptions of injuries, Gen Work, Coffee
Summary:

“This is Barton,” Natasha tells Sam.

“Hey,” Barton says from the floor.

Then what I wrote was a fic for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol mainly inspired by banter and Jeremy Renner's face.

Operation Olympus (1679 words) by FiKate
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: William Brandt, Benji Dunn, Jane Carter (Mission: Impossible), Original Male Character(s)
Additional Tags: Team Dynamics, Heist, Seduction
Summary:

Before reconnecting with Ethan at the end of the movie, Brandt, Dunn and Carter spend some time in a hotel in Athens and end up creating their own mission. This time, Brandt seduces the rich guy. Contains banter, more god codenames, a well placed karate chop and a vault that doesn't behave.

Thank you to TL for betaing.

Title: What do they teach in these schools?
Fandom: The Flash (2014)
Characters: Barry Allen, Joe West, Iris West
Rating: G
Summary: dodger_sister had asked for a story about Narnia and snow, but instead I wrote a fic about Barry and Narnia. She's one of the reasons that I took a chance on The Flash and watched the entire season in two days. I thought about that wonderful scene in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe where Professor Kirke talks with Peter and Susan about believing Lucy. I hope you like it even though its not exactly what you asked for. The title comes from that conversation.

Apologies for the earlier version, my HTML was being weird.

( I’m not a liar. I saw something like Lucy did. )

I've now applied to be a substitute, helped out a fun, charity yard sale, found some great finds at the library book sale and had some lazy days. Tomorrow I have an allergy appointment but the next two weeks are all about finishing two exchange fics. In the spirit of feeling like there's no way I can finish anything, have a fic meme from snacky. If something's from an exchange, I'll shift it but I don't think either of my recipients follow me.

Question which I think I asked before. Has anyone else watched Boardwalk Empire? I just watched the first season after loving the second and third when in Michigan and I think I might rewatch them. Its not my normal kind of show with how violent it is, but basically Margaret's character pulled me in. Also as someone who grew up with visits to Ocean City, New Jersey, the setting interests me.

Leave a comment with one of these and I'll post, without editing*:

FIRST — the first two sentences of my current project
LAST — the most recently written two sentences of my current project
NEXT — the next line. meaning i will finish the sentence I’m on and write a new one, which you’ll get.
[insert prompt here] — you post a prompt, and i’ll write three sentences based on that prompt, set in the same time/setting as my current project
THE END — i’ll make up an ending, or post the ending if i’ve written it
BEFORE THE BEGINNING — three sentences (or more) about something that happened before the plot of my current project
POV — something that’s already happened, retold from another character’s perspective

*okay, I might have to edit some names out of an exchange fic, but that's about it.

This was an odd Monday, the power was off in the library so I had nothing to do and went and read in Starbucks for a while. Also yesterday was spent cooking and then enjoying hosting with my parents a movie group they're a part of, we talked about films from the Rehoboth Film Festival and others. Apparently The Book Thief was quite popular, which makes me curious. From what I've read of reviews online, it seems one of those books that people either love or they hate. Also I've been introducing mainly my mother but also my father to more Doctor Who with a focus on Ten as he's my favorite. I hadn't realized before just how much Russell T. Davies used authors as linchpins of stories; Dickens, Shakespeare, Christie.

Oh and I finally got more words for my Yuletide, it still doesn't really have much form to it but there are over 600 words. This might be one where I throw the words out on the page and then beg my betas help in making sense of it.

Now for the December Meme, which is still very open. You don't need to leave ideas on that entry, leave them on any and they will be written. I might end up extending it into January as I'm loving the questions I'm getting.

Back to the point for today swankyfunk asked me: Out of all the places you've visited, where would you most like to live and why?

Now I'm going to do top five for this one, because narrowing it down to just one is really hard.

1-Wellington, New Zealand: I liked who I was in Wellington. I found a gaming group, I was able to wander. There were cafes to read in, museums to wander into, water, hills and even used bookstores that didn't eat all my money. Also the best public library that I've been to, okay one of my top ten favorite libraries. I could have lived in that library with no problem. The only true con to Wellington is that its so far away from the US and my family and friends here. When I came back from New Zealand, I wanted to try and meet and connect with all these amazing people I'd met through Milliways, but it stalled. First the recession, then grad school in Michigan and now I'm here in Delaware and the oomph to go see people hasn't happened as I'd like. DC, Maryland and Virginia people, I want to connect with you. Yet there are also people on that side of the world as well, its tough.

2-Dublin, Ireland: I spent a week in Dublin in 2002 when I had finished my semester abroad in Athens and I loved it. Again a city I could walk that had water but also art and history and all those things that I loved. I would love the chance to live there and know it better.

3-Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Growing up for me, Philly was the city that was just a train ride away. I spent high school going to South Street, the year after I graduated college had an internship at a museum on Penn's Landing, its my favorite city. I love the history of it, Ben Franklin walked those streets and the river going through and its close to DC and New York but a little cheaper. There are great restaurants and wonderful neighborhoods, the Mummers, Reading Terminal Market. I always expected that I would end up near it because it was where I grew up and I'd still like to.

4-San Francisco/Central California: My mother grew up in Carmel-by-the-Sea so I spent a few weeks ever summer going to Carmel to spend time with my grandmother, aunt, uncle and cousin. Also a visit to San Francisco where my great aunt lived and I loved it. One reason I adore New Zealand is that it reminds me of that part of California. I've only visited it but I'd love to try living there.

5-Seattle: My other aunt and uncle live in Seattle and its another city that I adore visiting. It feels like New Zealand and its the Pacific Northwest and god, I would love to work at that library.

As you can see, I'm pretty evenly split between East and West Coast with New Zealand kind of splitting the difference. I have learned about myself that I'm happiest in a city with some sort of waterfront whether its river or ocean, water makes it all better. I do love New York City but to me it always felt like a city to dip into versus one to live in. This is probably because I've never lived there and its been a place I go for a few days at a time, but its never pulled me the same ways that these others have. At this point, I would just love a job near a city where I knew one or two people because I do need that social grounding.

One thing that wrecked me last year was not really knowing anyone, Rick was too far away in Ann Arbor and people were nice at work but that's not quite enough. I did like Ann Arbor as well but it felt too far away from everything though it was a great city. If I could have moved Ann Arbor farther east, I would have been happy and found a job there.

I had a good day, I woke up and went to the local library for the volunteer appreciation meal. The food was delicious and there's such a wonderful community there, also my mentor recommended someone else to look over my resume. Then as a gift, I was given a small poinsettia, which made me smile.

Sadly there was a low point when I went to Starbucks before heading to see Frozen. I was sitting and reading and the couple sitting next to me was awful, everything they said was a variation on things used to be better and 'these people' covering migrants, young people, women and even soldiers didn't appreciate what they have. The bit that made me truly consider speaking up was how the man was going on about how in the 1950s suddenly housewives lives were so much easier they had nothing to do but spend their time lazing around all day. After all that was what it seemed like his mother was doing and that women might say they wanted equality but if offered a pedestal, they would hop right up. Somehow the woman he was with kept nodding and not disagreeing, I didn't get it but it did end. It made it hard for me to concentrate on my reading and those of you on Twitter saw my grumbling, because honestly wanting to be respected and paid well isn't being entitled. This shouldn't be that hard.

After I went off to see Frozen which was wonderful. I loved how the heart of the movie was the sisters and trying to fix a broken family along with helping a kingdom. Also the chant/singing at the start and end of the movie gave me chills and seemed almost Polynesian. I don't know if I want the entire soundtrack but I get parts of it.

lady_bols: Favourite TV shows, at least three, and why you like them. <3

Now for the question for the December meme, this is going to be hard one as I love a lot of shows. And the last few nights I've been dipping into Netflix Streaming which always reminds me of shows that I love but have forgotten so as with these others, these are the first few that I think of. If asked on a another day, the answer would be different.

Firefly: Created families and ensembles are some of my favorite things to see in a show and Firefly does them right. I also love cowboys and space cowboys are just better. I didn't see Firefly when it was on TV, but instead was introduced to it in New Zealand. Some of my friends there lent me their set and I marathoned all of them in I think two or three nights and fell in love. I adore all the relationships and thanks to Milliways have been able to see some of what else might happen. This is one of those cases where Milliways made me appreciate the show even more since the incredible players in Milliways expanded the world and added even more depth to what was there to begin with.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: I started watching Buffy when it first aired but then stopped before getting reintroduced to it in college. I have a lot of good memories of watching Buffy life with friends and talking about how strange and wonderful it is. The friendships and loves feel real and while sometimes the plots are a bit silly, the heart is always there. Joss knows how to do ensembles. I've been reminded of Buffy mainly due to Tumblr where gifs of it keep appearing.

Elementary: I'm currently rather far behind on this show but I grew up watching Jeremy Brett's Holmes and I feel like this show captures the feel of the Holmses' stories. I love the push and pull of Joan and Sherlock as well as the sense that its actually happening in a New York City that I could visit. The mysteries aren't anything special but to me that's never been the point of the Holmes' stories, they're more about the back and forth of Holmes and Watson.

Teen Wolf: I marathoned this show because I was curious about where alexiscartwheel's Stiles came from. Then discovered it was on Netflix Streaming and lost a few nights sleep to it. I have a soft spot for shows about young people trying to grow up and find their way which Teen Wolf hits in a way I like. I appreciate the variety of families, how nothing is easily solved. It would be nice if the plots made more actual sense but Stiles and Scott, Scott and Allison, Mama McCall, Danny, Isaac, Derek and the rest of them make me happy. This is one of those shows that I would love to actually write some fanfic for as its all about friendship and love and family. I have a fanfic started crossing it over with Sleepy Hollow that I need to write more of.

TaleSpin: This is the show of my childhood from Disney Afternoon and I've bought some of the DVDs and would like to in time get the rest. Its a show about a created family set in a vaguely steampunk world and I love it. If I could ever figure out how to RP or properly write some of the fanfic in my head of it I would, but cartoon worlds are tricky to write.

There, that's the five that immediately come to mind and I feel like they give a good sense of the variety of what I watch. I do love reality TV shows but I don't come back to them as often as I do these.

I forgot to mention that I finally wrote an entry on my librarian blog that I've been meaning to since the start of November; Connecting through Art about the Film Festival I went to and a sculpture garden I went to after Thanksgiving.

As it rains outside, I'm sitting and listening to the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington on NPR and remembering why I chose to be an educator and a librarian. This past year while I worked in the suburbs around Detroit, I learned a lot by seeing how the internet has opened ways for young people to explore more of the world and question it. Yet I also saw how adults wouldn't listen because there were some truths that they weren't ready to deal with. I hope that the speeches today are heard and do make a change because listening to each other and understanding that we all need each other matters. Its heartening to hear the lists of everyone who counts in the speeches because it shows that in fifty years, more people are recognized. There's a lot to do and if I can help by providing access to books that better reflect the make up of America and access to online resources and a safe space for young people then I'll do it.

I've been rattling around in my parents' house in Delaware, which I really needed. Being by the coast makes me happy and settled in a way that's helps me feel better. Part of that is lots of pictures because this area is beautiful and my parents have created a wonderful haven for themselves here. Most of the pictures have been posted on my Twitter and Tumblr, but if you don't follow me there, on Instagram I'm here and you can look over them. Sadly Instagram doesn't make it easy to post images into blog posts or else I'd do that more often. I've been going for walks and taking care of various errands plus finishing up a few fics. Also due to being a writer, I listen to this history and find myself wanting to write about Charles listening to these speeches with his first few students and realizing that change can come about. I really wish that Pacific Rim was playing somewhere nearby because I could do with a rewatch of it.

One nice benefit of my parents' place is that they have a big TV, no cable but an Apple TV so I've been catching up on various shows. I've now watched most of the older seasons of Warehouse 13, the first season of New Girl, which I loved, some of Parks and Recreation which didn't really catch me, The Vicar of Dibley and various other movies and shows that catch my attention. Sadly I haven't figured out how to mirror my computer on the TV, I think its because my laptop is older than Airplay, but I'll sort it out at some point. And I hope soon to start working at my local library, which will be wonderful. Its a great library and a place that I enjoy being in.

FicFriday returned last week with lots of wonderful prompts.
( Twitter fics> For @minkhollow42 <i>Dem, to everything there is a season</i>  )

My mind was a rather strange place last night as I dreamed that I was not Batman and not exactly Bryce Wayne but someone in between. I was investigating something at a girl's boarding school that reminded me of the main castle in Prague. As in there was the entire little city in this small space, it was a claustrophobic sort of dream. Also at some point in the dream, I turned into a student who was lost and couldn't figure anything out.

I'm pretty sure I know why I had such a dream, that was because last night I watched the season finale of Hannibal and then before going to bed finished reading The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie and there were unexpected parallels going on.

( Spoilers for Hannibal, entire season and A.B.C Murders )

Otherwise, I'm finding it weird to not be heading off to work and so am spending a lot of my time writing and preparing to head to the ALA conference in Chicago from June 27th to July 1st. I'm excited and scared as I know there's more I need to be doing to really be at my best for looking for a job. I have blog posts that I should get writing but mainly that words I keep getting at the moment are fandom ones. I did get some minicards made up for myself, which I love. They have all my pertinent information on them and as my Wordpress blog is pretty much my digital portfolio, they should work.

On Wednesday, I went to the Detroit Zoo and had an amazing time, it was wonderful to just wander around and enjoy the crowds of kids and the beautiful weather. The only annoying part was that when I was trying to get a picture of the prairie dogs, I missed where the concrete changed and skinned my elbow and acquired a nice bruise on my knee. I'm still a little sore since I didn't fall all the way down, I took a major bump. I think I might end up doing another post with just those pictures or at least some of my favorites for those who don't follow me elsewhere to see them.

In terms of fandom writing, I wrote a femslash piece for the Marvel Femslash Prompt Fest, its a little out of my normal round but the prompt clicked for me. Harder than Steel, which is Raven/Emma and explicit.

Today has also been a busy day as the DE was a prompt one and I wrote a number of fics, some of I might expand out and I'm still open for more prompts there.

It was also FicFriday over on Twitter and I'm still taking prompts there as well.
( Twitter Fics )

So anyone willing to beta my queer fest fic of 3200 words of Charles and Raven dealing with him being bi?

Its pretty rough but I think its all there and there's no rush. My posting date isn't until later in the month.

Also Kevin Kline's Pirates of Penzance is on TV, I need to get the DVD version of this movie as my VHS is useless now. This movie is such a weird part of my childhood. I saw that awful movie The Pirate Movie on TV and had good thoughts about it and at the video store saw this one on sale and bought it. I then completely fell in love with it though thought the last song must have been created by the film as it was so out there. It wasn't until I took a course in college where we studied 19th century literature in which we read Gilbert and Sullivan that I learned that song was canon. It made me love the movie even more and how it just embraced the crackiness of Gilbert and Sullivan. Its been far too long since I played the Pirate King but I'm going to see if I can get around to having him take a bartending shift or something in the near future.

I'm using this icon because of Tumnus and snow not yuletide as it captures how I've felt this weekend, tucked at home as it snows outside. The snow will let up and then come back and sometimes be rain all this week, which has made it hard to find the energy to do much. The sun briefly came out on Friday, but other than that, its been cloudy. As I've also been fighting off feeling sick, I've slept a lot this weekend and realized I really needed it. I didn't work on Friday as I decided a day of rest would help me more than trying to push through the day. Going by just how much I've been sleeping, I think this was the right idea. I'm still a little tired today, but not as out of it as I felt last week.

Though on Friday, I did go out to a book club meeting from meetup.com that was wonderful. I think I've started to find my people in this area, even though I hadn't read the book, the conversation was wonderful. We talked about gaming, fantasy and all sorts of fascinating stuff. One of the people in group even knows one of my favorite teachers from Michigan. There was also an adorable and big black dog who decided he liked me and let me give him all sorts of scritches. I'm planning on using meetup to try and find a dance group as the combination of being social and active works well for me.

Since I stayed in yesterday due to the snow falling, I watched up to episode 10 of Capital Scandal and wow, all the feelings for that show. I love all of it, the depth of the characters, the beautiful setting and music and the humor that slips its way in.

Today I went out into the world and used the time to finish reading City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte, which is a book I wanted to like more than I did. Its a book that could easily be called a genre bender or crosser as it had fantasy, mystery and romance, sadly the balance wasn't always right in it. The two point of view characters were both a little too brilliant and the feel of the story would veer rather suddenly from alchemy and history to sex against statues. Its the kind of book that I would enjoy reading on a long plane or train ride where I could just sink into it and read it in one gulp, but reading it in stops and starts made me not enjoy it as much. As I would come out of it and be aware of how it didn't all fit together.

Life is going along steadily at work, I still feel like I'm out of some loops but I've got a chance to discuss my status report, which I hope will be helpful. Also I had an amazing connection with a new teacher that made me feel like I know what I'm doing. I know that I haven't spoken out as much as I need to and I'm going to work on that. They hired me because they think I can do this job and I am doing it and will keep improving. Also I have a chance to propose some classes for next year, which will get me more involved and be exciting. I finally have a Michigan license and this month paid off the last of my smaller loan from the University of Michigan, which is a great feeling. I have a break coming up in the third week of February, which I plan on going to Jackson and having some nice days of watching stuff. I also have a break in the first week of April and I'll be joining them for an opera in NYC on the fourth. If its possible, I would love to try and connect with anyone in New York for coffee or lunch or something. There's more flexibility in terms of going rather than leaving so Wednesday or Thursday. I miss you guys a lot and want to try and reconnect.

On Friday, FicFriday was interesting. I like this new way of giving prompts and then people have the option of deciding which character or world to write them for.
( Twitter fiction )