Until It Sleeps

So they've shut down Megaupload.

http://rt.com/usa/news/megaupload-shut-million-authorities-231/

What's next? *shaking head*

If you have stuff bookmarked online that you're really, really fond of, you might just wanna save it to your hard drive. Just a suggestion.

WHAT a crazy couple of days!! I usually expect to spend a quiet Christmas with a lot of time left to my own devices to hang out online and relax. Hasn't happened this year!!! *facepalm*

It started with my meltdown on Friday morning - everything is fine now, but it was hairy for a while. THAT set me back a half a day and totally drained me. Then on Saturday, Christmas Eve, it was time for the family tradition of taking Michael and his little half-sister out for Christmas Eve Breakfast and then a movie. Victoria is 13 now and adores her big brother more than anything! *g* This year, however, instead of coming home and having my evening to myself and some wine and some checking in online with buddies... I was invited to stay for supper at my ex's house. His sister was in town with her 3 kids and my ex-mother-in-law was there as well. As were various members of his wife's family. It was a HOOT! We got into the wine, lots of good conversation and then I helped Sandy (my ex sister-in-law) finish the wrapping for her 3 kids. :) There was LOTS of wrapping to do. *LOL*

And then, believe it or not, I did not even turn ON the computer yesterday, Christmas Day. Michael and I spent the day - once we'd opened our prezzies - snoozing, playing video games, watching movies and TV show DVDs. Hell, we didn't eat until after 8:00! (We traditionally have steak and baked potatoes on Christmas Day - the turkey is on Boxing Day.) It was nice and something that doesn't happen very often, I have to admit.

Today, we have guests coming and I'm making the whole turkey dinner thing. (I have a 16 pound turkey whose name is Alphonse - yes we always name the birds.) I have to get started soon, there's tidying and stuff to be done as well. :) So, I don't know that I'll be around much today either! (My pups are NOT happy with me AT all, but what's a mun to do??)

So, know that I'm thinking of all of you and wishing you the most amazing holidays ever! Doing what you want to do, be it crazy partying or just relaxing and being quiet. It's all good! *HUGS* for you all!!!!

So here's the picture.

Me and Maks

I am STILL walking with my head in the clouds! I'm just SO glad that he was so lovely, charming and sweet. We chatted for a moment, as you do, and all the while we spoke, he was so attentive, looking me in the eyes.

*Happy Sigh*

(EDIT: And I've managed to access my Photobucket and put it up there.)

Maks and Me!


(x-posted to LJ)

Yes indeedy!! *nodnod* The man rubbed my back. And smiled and was generally uber wonderful. It's late or I'd say more, but let it be known... MAKS RUBBED MY BACK!!!!

I've been watching the mini-series "Pillars of the Earth", and amongst all the pretty faces and terrific actors, there's this one guy I can't keep my eyes from when he's on the screen. He plays the role of Jack Jackson and his name is Eddie Redmayne. Someone needs to pick this boy up and bring him into The Est. Just sayin'....

Just a few of observations this noon hour.

I would really like to read some good Neal/Keller smut. (It's one of the few things in White Collar fandom that the pup wouldn't have a fit over, I'm told. *LOL*) But you know, it's damned hard to find!

I'm watching this show on HGTV called House Crashers, and the host reminds me of Alex O'Loughlin from Hawaii Five-O. He could be Alex's not-quite-as-hot but still cute older brother. *LOL* His name is Josh Temple, I think.

I kinda wish there was some sort of recc listing over at AO3. Or maybe there is and I just haven't found it.

It's the beginning of August already! Where the hell does the time go?

I'm certainly feeling better than this time a month ago. My breathing is much better and I'm not getting pains any more when I try and fill my lungs. The drugs seem to be doing their job because all my blood tests are, to use the doc's words - "perfect". I do think, however, that the coumadin is screwing with my digestion a little. I never really had trouble before, but since coming out of the hospital, on those hot and humid days mostly, I have problems. It's a bit of a pain, because I start feeling a lot better, getting energy back, beginning to be able to do things again (including tagging) and then the stomach thing hits me and I'm out of things for 2 - 3 days and I have to start all over again. I have to say bless you all, to my writing partners for their patience with me as I tag in fits and starts. *hugs them all*

I'm still trying to deal with Julie's passing. It's difficult. I miss her so much. I don't know that I've ever had such an instant connection with someone the way I did with her. You know how Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables) spoke about "kindred spirits"? Julie was my kindred spirit. She was my best friend and the sister I never had - trite as it sounds, it's very true. This is a difficult subject for me to talk about - someone I trust very much suggested that with my being sick and all that I haven't been able to grieve properly, and I think she's right.

On the upside, I've not had a cigarette since June 7th in the evening. And it's not been so bad, I have to say. Yeah, I get cravings and urges every now and then, but they pass really fast. I actually have 3 whole packs of smokes in the bookcase right behind me. Folks say that I should get rid of them, but you know what? It kind of gives me more power to know they're there and I've not touched them.

And the little kitty has a name. Rika. She is named after a character from Phantasy Star 4 - Michael's favorite video game of all time. She's settling in fairly well. She and Squirt have achieved detente and I expect that before another week is gone, they'll be bffs.

I guess the final piece of news it that I caved and signed up to AO3 after the latest clusterfuck at Live Journal. OTW still rots my socks but AO3 seems to be a fairly stable place to store my fics, so... upload them I will. I have no clue if I'm doing it right. *LOL* They all seem to use a TON more tags than I do, sometimes you can read the story just by reading the tags and the warnings! *LOL*

And that's about it for how things are with me. :)

Cross-posted to LJ.

For better or worse, we have a new addition to the family.



Adopted from a local rescue group, she's 4 1/2 months old and we've not named her yet. :) Names under consideration at the moment are Rika, Silk and Ziva. She's basically my son, Michael's cat and he's naming her but I always have veto power. *g*

(Squirt, the dog, is reserving judgement for the moment.)

So, here's the story. On Tuesday, June 7th, my son Michael and his best friend Jeff took me into emergency at the hospital because basically I couldn't breathe and had a humungous pain in my side. We thought acute asthma attack or something along those lines. Nope. After overnight in the emergency room and tests and scans on the Wednesday, I was admitted to the ICU with 2 pulmonary embolisms. Yeah, I was in overachiever mode. *LOL* (I have to tell you that the pain I experienced was the worst pain I've ever had and that includes labour pains!) Oh yes, and NO internet access in the hospital, thank you very much. *RME*

I was in the ICU for 5 days and then they moved me to the regular floor where I stayed for another week and a day. The upshot of the whole thing is that I suffer from phlebitis and that's what threw the clots. So I'm on blood thinners for that - so that more clots don't form and all. I also suffer from some breathing issues thanks to the smoking, but with some changes I'm making (yeah, it's been over 2 weeks since my last cig) and my trusty puffers I should be able to improve that over the next while. Now that all sounds rather dire, but my blood pressure is wonderful, I don't suffer from diabetes and I have no strange growths or mysteriously swollen nodes, so there is some positive stuff.

I could regale you all with hospital horror stories, but you all know them. What I do want to say is that the majority of the nursing staff, in the Emergency Room, the ICU and the regular floor, were SUPER.

During the time I was in the hospital I had asked Michael to get in touch with a couple of key people, to let them know what was happening. (Things would have gone smoother, I think, if I'd remembered Rho's email addy correctly. *LOL*) So, he emailed Julie (Joolz) and she ended up calling him on the 11th, the Saturday. She'd been in the hospital too, she said, and she was annoyed at me for stealing her thunder. *LOL* So very Julie. *g* I was still in the ICU at that point and Michael said that as soon as he had a phone number for me, he'd email her, which he did on the Monday when I got out of ICU. Now he hadn't heard a thing from her since, and I began to worry, you know how you do. I had a feeling.

So yeah, Julie passed on the 12th. I had a couple of emails from her hubby, Bruce, in my inbox when I got home yesterday. I called him right away of course. The trial cancer treatment was a bust and the cancer had continued to grow aggressively. That Saturday, the 11th, was Julie's last good day. She managed to call and talk to a lot of folks and I'm just really glad she got to talk to Michael. They had a special relationship.

So, my best friend is gone. More than a best friend, really. A sister, the sister I never had. We clicked as soon as we met online, two crazy middle-aged ladies with an obsession for Metallica. It was amazing how much we had in common, really. And we instinctively understood each other right off the bat. I told her stuff I'd never told anyone and vice versa. We had a plan, we were going to buy ourselves a cottage on a beach and retire there to spend our days doing whatever the hell we wanted. We were also going to get a fancy Winnebago and travel the States and Canada. Damn, I'm going to miss her so much. We talked every night on AIM or Gchat. Maybe only for a few minutes over the past months when she was dealing with the damned cancer, but at least we were able to touch base, say hi and just be there, you know? It hardly seems fair that I be stuck in the hospital while she's passing, but you know, maybe that's how it was supposed to be. Michael said she passed when she did so that she could look after me from the other side and get me out of the hospital safely and all. And maybe he's right. :) Julie is out of pain now - God, she had a lot of pain the past few months, and she hated how helpless the disease was making her. She gave it the finger every day though.

I have a hole in my heart. I'm really going to miss her.

Here we go again. I'm really going to try and update this thing more regularly and I may have come up with a plan. I have my lovely new e-reader, my Kobo, so maybe I should give myself a task. Like reporting on the books I read. *g* I dunno if it will work, but I'll give it a shot.

( Maybe one day I'll learn to write a proper review. )

Last evening I started to feel like I had a cold coming on. Earlier today, I felt a lot better. Come the evening, again I'm feeling like crappolla. Not as bad as last night, but still very annoying. I can't concentrate on anything for longer than two minutes and I find myself vegging, staring at the TV and not really absorbing anything.

The worst part? I was just gathering my tagging speed and getting back to normal. *KERSIGH* Okay... here's to positive thinking that I will be better tomorrow - at least have a brain that will be semi-functional. So, my writing partners, I apologise profusely! The pups are not happy with me and, indeed, I'm not happy about it myself. It's pretty sad when all I can muster the wherewithall to do is click damned things in effin' Farmville!

So bear with me, tomorrow WILL be better!!

... I stumbled across this fic over at Live Journal and it just blew me away. There are paragraphs in it that are just complete poetry. And a pairing I would NEVER have thought of, but... there you go. Anything can work in the right hands. *g*

Look At Us We're Beautiful

Yeah, Misha Collins/Adam Lambert.

Go figure. *g*

So while I was out getting dog food, I decided to stop by the used book sale put on by our local library. Oooh, I lucked out! Amongst other books, I ended up finding all 6 books of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City! Those books have been on my wish-list forever! And those 6 books, 8 volumes of Trixie Belden mysteries (which I collect in all shapes and forms), and 3 other novels all came to a grand total of $4.30!

I'm chuffed!

So, it's been a TURRIBLE past couple of weeks. God, I hate being sick and under the weather. It started with the toothache, which developed into an abscess, the only good thing about it being the lovely pain pills that knocked me right on my ass for days. *LOL* Get that under control, get back to the office and BAM! Hello Office Flu, how the fuck are ya? And of course, we're not talking a couple of days here, no... I'm into week 2 of the bitch and my head's stuffed up, I'm still coughing like mad and sleep seems to be a hit and miss type of thing. The worst part is what it does to my brain. I can't focus, I can't seem to concentrate on anything for any period of time. I get home from the office and I'm a total veg-head.

But things seem to be better this morning. Yeah, I'm still stuffy and coughy, but I slept somewhat decently - until the little dog went all Barky McFreakOut at something outside. At least the wheezing is almost gone.

So, here's hoping that I'm getting back on track and can actually interact with people once again. My writing partners have been very understanding and I love them for it. (My pups, on the other hand, are getting a little antsy. *LOL*)

And as a final upside of things - 8 more weeks until I'm done with work! God, I can hardly believe it! It still doesn't seem real. I guess the reality will kick in sometime around the middle of January when I realise I'm not going back into the office.

And that'd be the State of the Ev this morning!

Gmail is being a total pain and not giving me a selection of my emails in anything approaching a timely fashion. And it's nothing pinpointable - regular emails, JF advices, site updates, it's an equal opportunity pain in the ass. I'm getting emails I should have gotten yesterday afternoon, last night, this morning... now... this evening. So, folks, if you've emailed me and not gotten an expected reply, that would be why.

There's this gal I meet every morning when I go outside for my before-shift smoke. And every morning, it's the same conversation - how long it took her to get to work and which road she took to get here. Every. Goddamned. Morning. The same complaint over and over again. It's very tiresome.

In other news, I got some WONDERFUL tags overnight and all I want to do is tag back. I have impatient pups all over my brain. Work really gets in the way of the good stuff, huh? *g* Soon... soon. Well, I do have next week off, so that's a plus. And then I shall begin the countdown to the end of the year. Woot!!!

I watched the 7th ep of this season's White Collar last night - bless being able to download from the internet! - and OH, it was LOVELY!! The White Collar slashers are going to have a field day!

And in other news? There is none. *LOL*

Okay, gotta start my shift. Have a lovely day!!

And a HUGE crowd of other people. *LOL* With me was my son, Michael, one of his best friends, Malcolm, and Mal's sister, Eliza (a HUGE Adam fan who asked to come along at the last minute)

( Events of the Day. )

So, all in all? A TERRIFIC night, a TERRIFIC show and I'm a happy Adam fangurl *g* (Now, I want him to come back and play a venue where there's actual reserved seating!) This concert goes into my Top 5 (along with Metallica, Godsmack, Neil Diamond and The Nylons.). And yes, my feet hurt and my knees ache and I'm a little sunburnt, but it was all definitely worth it!

(Adam Lambert festival concert day.)

Yep... that's me again. *LOL* Woke up this morning with a start - the power was off and the neighbourhood was all silent - no pool filter noises, anything. I had no idea what time it was and I wanted to be up for 9:00 to get my shit together for today's adventure. Finally found my cell and saw that it was only 7:15. *phew* Ten minutes later, power returns. YAY!!!!

So, I made my coffee and settled in to catch up on my internet stuff and ended up reading the next installment of a lovely White Collar fic that Rho linked me up to. Okay... off my ass and into the shower. I have to make sandwiches and get the cooler ready as well. So far, my timing is good.

Then... Malcolm and his sister arrive EARLY! *LOL* Michael had told Malcolm to be here for 10:00 because Mal is always late and I wanted to leave for 10:30. Well, they get here at 9:45 because Mal's sister, Eliza, is a TIME NAZI! *LOL* So, they're here now. I'm not even dressed or anything. *RME*

So... no tagging got done. I have to start getting stuff together, making sure I forget nothing. Camera, extra batteries, food, hat, cigs, all the IMPORTANT stuff. *g*

So, I'm off to see the Glambert in a little bit and I can hardly wait!! This is either going to be an epic win or a total fail. *g* And damn, I didn't get to do my nailpolish. *kersigh*

Have a lovely day, my friends! Be good to each other and I'll let you know how the day went when I recover!

*hugs the flist*

So jackandahat posted about writing; 10 things about Jack and writing, which I found really interesting. And struck a lot of familiar chords. He also mentioned curiosity about his flist, so...

( 10 things about Evaine and writing: )

So there you have it. I suspect some of this may be familiar to quite a few folk out there.

So what am I doing this morning while I watch the football/soccer and suck on my second cup of coffee? I'm pondering my Kink Bingo card.

I've finally figured out what squares I can easily work with (and which will give me fits.) and already have a few ideas for actual fics - but the problem is, who shall star in said fics? I've come up with a few sets of characters in different fandoms, characters I've never written, or barely written, but I have lots of squares to fill.

So, if anyone out there is actually reading - *g* - is there any pairing (or you know, maybe threesome) that you might think Ev could actually work with? I'm open to suggestions - all genres, slash, femme slash, het - hell, even solo. You never know what will ping in my brain.