Leni Jess

For the last 24 hours my nephew has been in Emergency with a serious flare-up of Chrohn's disease. He's managed to control this pretty well for years with diet, and now they're trying to decide whether there's a medical solution, or whether they're going for surgical (surgeon seeing him tomorrow). WTF went wrong? Until this happened he was in tip-top physical shape, despite occasional poor patches (martial arts instructor, and beautiful to look upon – and I'm his aunt).

We have bush fires all over the shop – NSW, Vic, SA, Qld (but not here in the ACT). Specifically, there's a major fire just the other side of the road we take to Mudgee on Tuesday (to attend a concert series every year). Tonight they are expecting two changes of wind direction. I wonder what tomorrow will bring? When I think about that road running through deep isolated bush, I really don't want to meet fire. We're trying to keep on top of the fire incidents advisory.

And it seems fair to say I'm in some kind of self-destructive mode, in that I'm still having terrible trouble writing the fest fics I committed to, this season.

( I could have gone on about the weather ... but that gets old )

( No point in ranting about writing, you've read it all before )

( How about some fic recs? )

( Seeing my nearest and dearest soon )

( DVD-watching )

Sinks back into sloth. Then wakes up again: Semagic seems completely buggered, must post manually. Grr. What have I done to it this time?

( My notebook's been away for about five weeks )

( I've also been reading books rather than reading on the computer )

( Yuletide approaches! )

Everyone's heard about the massive find of Anglo-Saxon gold in Staffordshire, on show in Birmingham at the Art Gallery and Museum from about now, for a week, right? If not, see the hoard's website for superb piccies.

I had to have an icon.

( Tagged by dementordelta )

I have accounts on various journals, but I only follow my flist on LJ and IJ, though I try to keep the IJ flist reading filter down to people who don't cross-post the same content to LJ. (This was a measure of desperation when travelling with little time for the net, but it works, so I kept it.)

If I have you friended, and you post different things to different journals, comment plz? Then I can review my flist filters. Ta. (That includes DW, especially if you only post there, though I don't think any of you do that without auto-cross-posting to LJ.)

I do post now to DW, and friend/whateveretheycallit people there who friend etc me, but I haven't got around to sorting out how it all works yet, so mostly I just follow over when people link to a post there. One day I will (sigh), and will ensure my flist and filters there are complete.

One day, too, I will find out how to force Semagic to post to DW when it posts to other journals. The official instructions don't work for me (yes, I have the latest version of Semagic), so I copy my LJ post using LJ-Sec; it's just one more step. Noted that even with a paid DW account (which I don’t anticipate having any time soon), you can't cross-post to as many journals as I currently do (though the other two are backups only).

Housework? Wossit? My sister is coming up for a friend's funeral, therefore unexpectedly, and staying overnight, so I am frantically rendering the house (a) habitable, (b) minimally tidy, (c) somewhat clean. Fortunately, she loves me anyway.

Also, my washing machine has just, if not died, had a hernia. I raced through when these ominous loud noises started up, like the muffler fallen off a Mack truck, to turn it off, part way through the first load of washing. So some time today I must hie over the road to my brother's place, to use his new washing machine. Ideally before he gets home from Melbourne, because he's going to want to crash when he does.

For the last few days, I've found that if I return to IJ after being away for a few hours, I'm not logged in any more.

Now LJ has started doing it: I was away for a bit under 3 hrs, and had to log in again. *indignant splutterings*

Has anyone any idea why this is happening? It's not some "benefit" of Explorer 8, is it?

A few days ago Gordon Brown apologised to the memory of Alan Turing for the way he was treated, nearly 60 years ago. Useless, of course, to the man vilified and shamed and medically molested, but a sign of better times for gay persons today. A great mathematician was lost (and professionally crippled, by those who owed him almost everything) at the height of his powers.

So, you may think it frivolous of me, or sentimental (I hope no one finds it offensive), but I wondered if anyone would like this bunny:

Someone in the wizarding world thinks it could do with a first class Arithmancer. So what if he's gay? So what if he's a Squib (use/leave, own choice)? Options: set in 1952 (when the fairly new Lord Voldemort is starting to look sinister to some), or bring in a Time Turner or similar plot device and move Turing to a more tolerant time (in which prejudice and malice certainly exist, probably in the wizarding world as in ours, but where there is no legal drive to destroy). What happens next? How does Turing adapt to new world/society and to magic? Does he do anything comparable to his achievements in the Muggle WWII? Gen preferred (so as to concentrate on how Turing fits in to the wizarding world and what he does there), but slash is okay (just, though his sexuality is obviously important, it shouldn't be the sole focus, I would think).

*is a real sucker for fix-it-better, and terminally trivial-minded*

PS If you write it, do tell me! And if you have already done so, or know of a fic like this, I'd appreciate a link.

Okay, so three days ago my brother and I decided we wouldn't go to New Zealand mid-October; we'd do it in February-March instead (autumn rather than spring). Which gave me another four weeks, nearly, in which to write my Christmas fest exchanges fics, which is certainly a relief. (I could handle the touring, but I couldn't face doing all the prep: touring research, finding accommodation, etc, and my brother didn't feel like it either. The decision also gives us a decent amount of lead time in making our booking, and considering we're doing this on United frequent flyer points, we'll probably need that.)

Good, huh? So two days ago my notebook threw a fit and turned the fan on, noisily, continuously, ominously (sounding like the bearings had gone), and not compatible with getting at any files/data, or turning on. Next thing I know, there's a message on screen saying the notebook had turned itself off to protect itself from damage. Not so good.

Contact insurance company; get the brush-off because "the shop isn't allowed to sell more than 3 yrs insurance". (The notebook came with a 2-yr makers' warranty, but the salesman had insisted I'd have 2 yrs additional warranty like anyone else, so I paid for it.) Wail at the shop. Take sales receipts in at sales manager's invitation, and get confirmation that I'm not covered; share a few sad stories about my last dealing with the insurance (and how helpful the then sales manager had been: quite true, he made them find a repairer); sales manager gets alarmed. He later phones me and offers to "have it assessed" to see what can be done. No promises, but no loss in following up, either. So I did that this morning, and my notebook is now, I hope, on its way to the makers for repair, I trust at the shop's expense, since nothing was said about me paying for it. (Why couldn't it have waited until Windows 7 was here and satisfactorily bedded down? Still, if it is just the fan it's a minor problem, I suppose: inconvenience rather than disaster.)

So I spent a lot of yesterday updating my old desktop (the previous day went on updates to Windows, Yahoo, AVG, and other stuff), and on forcing the printer to print from it. I never use Cougar except when the notebook is out of action, but I had backed up to hard drive and flash drive in the previous few days – including all the notes I made for the snapelyholidays fic; I get really paranoid at that point in the fic-writing process, and make copies on other media often – so I could copy to the desktop practically all of my current files. It just takes time. And time, and time. Just for luck, I backed up some more stuff to another external hard drive. Paranoia, much? But it pays.

Last night my brother remarked on my notebook's ability to fall over just when I need it for writing. Yep.

Am now cursing clunky keyboard and mouse, and slow processor, but it's streets ahead of having to write fic on my PDA.

I'm not sure where the day went, except for some research for a fic. Also, a perfect avocado for lunch.

My foflist is full of the new season SPN, grr; though my flist is not, bless them, in spite of the number who are addicts. The ?show=P addition to the http://username.livejournal.com/friendsfriends URL is a lifesaver; I can avoid all the SPN coms (and the coms of other shows starting the new season).

I spent a good deal of this afternoon reading more (good) posts about SurveyFail, and ask myself why I did so. I'm not a social scientist or a research methodology person; I didn't do the survey so I have no personal involvement/anxiety; I already know these "researchers" are graceless, bigoted, profit-oriented, incompetent idiots – so why am I reading? It's like that nasty impulse to watch a train wreck. I do like the thought that they’ve probably enshrined themselves for life or longer as dreadful examples of how not to conduct research, a case study in MassiveFail.

I now have prompts assignments for two of the three holiday season fic exchanges I signed up for, and thoughts on the first one received; still waiting on the third. I'd sort of imagined I could start thinking about all of them from the beginning of September, but clearly not. I need a good lead time for vagueness to turn into plot (or even choice of pairings). I need it more than ever this year, as we'll essentially be away from start October to mid November and then the last week of November, and I'm usually unable to write while travelling. Grr again. Maybe I can manage short fics for once. Woe; I have three weeks to write three fics. Madam Muse does not seem to be aware of this.

I'd love to sign up for the severus_lucius romance fest, but it has the same submission date as the other fests, and I'm not totally self-destructive. I hope. Maybe I can sign up as a watcher/writer for daily_deviant's Kinky Kristmas fest, where the submission date is later, if I can find a prompt that appeals (preferably Severus Snape/Lucius Malfoy).

Re the above "away from start October to mid November": not if we don't get our act together and book, we won't.

On the happy side, smutty_claus has made available a lovely series of icons (thank you, nightfallwen) for readers, artists and writers (see icon), and being able to celebrate my participation in that fest from the very first season with today's icon may well help me to get weaving on that fic when I get the prompt.

Also, I have the annual fun of deciding how many Snape pairings I'm going to choose to write this time.

( Have a Snape in drag! )

( Registration for Infinitus )

( Our Queensland holiday )

We are leaving early for Queensland, for eight days – I'll be back on the night of the 31st August.

Have fun, and don't break the internet while I'm away!

( Fandom and RL commitments snarling each other up, worse than ever )

Dreamwidth: I've at last organised Semagic to post to that as well as to LJ, IJ etc. I think. I hope. We'll see.</span>

( Perhaps this should all be behind the cut; it's not as if it's exciting )</font></span>

And I'm off again. My brother and I go down the coast to our sister's place for a week later this morning. Yay for relaxing. Must remember to add the last three months' mail to my baggage, as I haven't opened it yet. (Hope there are no old bills there...) I think I have everything else but the notebook packed, though.

I'm looking forward to seeing sister and niece, and finding out how sister's massive house reconstruction project has gone (there are now two guest bedrooms, yay), petting the cat again (and tolerating the dog and the horses).

It's a week ago yesterday arvo that I arrived home from San Francisco and Azkatraz and three months' worth of travelling (far too much, though enjoyable). I've spent most of the time trying to regularise my sleep patterns, and keeping warm (it's the depths of winter here). The day before yesterday I did a few things: the washing from my suitcase; harassing my mobile provider about their SIM card that died in the UK (got a free replacement plus credit for two months' bills for not being able to use the phone; OTOH, spent about 24 hrs trying to get the new SIM activated and dealing with the consequences of rare travails, boy oh boy oh boy).

I've seen my nephew and niece-in-law – we had a very pleasant afternoon tea/late lunch (maybe high tea is the best word – cheese platter and wine) in one of Canberra's fancier suburbs, which just happens to be close to the school where NIL teaches, and is full of gorgeous places to eat. I also have a delightful present from her travels to the UK with the school choir, earlier this year: a mouse mat with a Cambridge gargoyle which looks just like Snape having a hair-tearing eye-rolling fit! Love it.

Good room-mates make a conference pleasant. I've been very fortunate in my room-mates (slashpine, and across the divide dementordelta and rubyrosered). Good company, considerate adults, yay! Good hotel beds, too. Very glad we didn't accept the single bed(room) with two roll-on couches they first tried to fob Delta and me off with at registration, though. Diet Coke is a shocking price in the hotel, but who wants to walk to Walgreen's or 711 at 10:30 at night? The hotel wants a shocking price for wifi, too, but my current location does free wifi.

The meet-ups I attended (by arrangement Snape(cast), Snarry, Snupin and SS/HG, and on impulse H/D) were all fun, and noisy as hell. Lots of people took lots of trouble, and the various swag bags were generous. I particularly like the gifts of art, because I can’t transport the feather quill pens and potion bottles with anonymous content through our Customs! A number of groups have been generous with badges with great fanart on them too (just wish more had the artists' names, though I always tried to ask).

Are you jealous yet?

I have issues with the format of the conference program book, not all of which could have been afflicted by late changes in the hotel's room assignments, but the conference program itself has been good so far, and looks set to continue. All the rooms have been well sized for the audience (a pleasant change after the tight housing for some sessions at Terminus – there can be too much supervision, y'know!), and the Prefects helpful with the portable microphones which make groups discussion so much better. I'm looking forward to the auction of art and other memorabilia tonight. (My god, it's Monday already!) I do wish it had been possible for the purchasable souvenir tote bag to be in other house colours besides Gryffindor red, but that would have put the price up, I'm sure. Another year, maybe, I might get a Slytherin-coloured tote. At Infinitus at Orlando, maybe.

The ball last night was clearly fun for a lot of people. I enjoyed the costumes, but found the music way too loud in the confined space (except for "Dancing Queen", which I sang along to, confident that no one could hear me). I can't imagine what the rest of the hotel guests thought of us partying all over the 4^th floor foyer (by arrangement) as well as in the "ball room". So long as they weren't trying to sleep on the stairs, not a problem, I suppose.

I have been/will be going to a few presentations on fanart – including lizardspots' famous session on Draw Your Own Snape which I missed at Sectus – and have been hanging out around the drabble/drawble booth (stuck in an obscure corner, boo). For the first time I worked up the nerve to ask well-known artists to draw for me. I'm still amazed by their generosity and patience. So now I have art by (in chronological order) tripperfunster (one of whose Snarry keyrings I have cherished on my handbag ever since Prophecy), lizardspots (so glad she made it here!), glockgal (whose wild Hermione curls in art I have always admired), cluegirl (who agreed to draw for me though she was there informally to drabble), and littleblackbow/chibitoaster (whom I never recognise when she changes costume – wonderful Slughorn yesterday). I also have a drabble by ravenna_c_tan (who organised the Harry Potter Erotic Reading, which I managed to attend after all, yay, where her reading of her own story was both funny and hot). I shall post these after I get home and have energy to scan/transcribe, so you too can enjoy them. Squee, I have illustrations for two of my stories! (which I will link to – always advertise, right?)

To finish on a controversial note: see http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/19/2629864.htm for the story of how "after six years together, the relationship between a pair of gay male penguins at San Francisco zoo is apparently over, with Harry leaving Pepper for another penguin – Linda".

See you all on the other side of the Pacific, when I'm compos mentis again.

Where are those San Francisco fogs and cool days people promised?

Admittedly it's been a bit parky when I poke my nose out of the Youth Hostel door around 8 am, after breakfast, but who ventures out at that hour? By the time I'm in the street, it's lovely and sunny, and even an initial wind (yesterday) soon dies off. The day I arrived, it was 33^oC about 3 pm. I shall be happy if it stays warm – though I shall be taking a coat or so tonight, with an out-of-hotel ship meet-up and then a midnight movie.

Why was I such an idiot as to sign up for a midnight movie?

Oh, I remember, IMAX. Never seen one. Won't this time, either, thanks to Warner Brothers' indifference. Will still enjoy HBP movie, I hope. Thank god there's no programming Friday morning – though I shouldn't be surprised to wake up at 5 am. My room-mates are lucky I am now too tired to be bothered getting up and rustling around until I have to. If I am an exceedingly lucky person, I will sleep in, but experience suggests I won't.

Why is it I can't nap in the daytime when travelling, when it's dead easy at home?

I arranged two days in San Francisco before the con to go to museums, but so far I've just pottered in shops (and had a Ben and Jerry's icecream, my first in two years – have decided I prefer Baskins Robbins, which I can get at home; they don't put chocolate in almost every flavour). I did try the Museum of Asian Art, but as they had no information, beyond two sentences, about their current exhibition (Lords of the Samurai), which I was looking for a reason to pay for (not interested in armour), I went back to the hostel and got on the net instead.

All those people happily sitting about internetting or chatting reminded me I don't have to be at an art gallery or museum every spare minute!

However, I do plan to go to the Museum of Modern Art, where they are having an exhibition which apparently draws parallels between Georgia O'Keefe and Ansel Adams (*pauses to boggle again*), which I thought might be interesting. I may be able to drop in on it, on my way to this evening's 5 pm Snape/Hermione meet-up, which is pretty much across the road.

I shall be leaving the hostel in half an hour or so to drag my baggage too many blocks down Ellis St (goodbye free internet, goodbye fresh bagels for breakfast, goodbye all-day free coffee – why is it I'm paying to stay at the Parc 55 again? Ah yes, to be with fandom friends). If we are very lucky, the room dementordelta has booked will be available before the official 3 am check-in time; but, if not, we can camp in a bar and study our programs. Bar. Hmmmm....

See lots of you soon, or by Saturday, at least!

Yesterday I left Birmingham by bus for London (took a taxi in to the coach station due to rain and forecast of heavy rain), aimed at Heathrow, with what should have been plenty of time. Only the M40 was closed for a couple of relevant junctions and the bus had to go in to Banbury to pick up a lone passenger. So we got off before the closed junction and made for Stratford, then took the Banbury road. Rolling through very attractive country, but not exactly speeding along. 35 mins late ... Luckily it was possible to get back on the motorway once out of Banbury. Total effect: 50 mins late. No longer checking in 3 hrs before flight departure as recommended. Nonetheless, a short queue, and I found that United had bumped my membership level up to something useful: shorter queue for check-in, much shorter queue for boarding.

The plane rolled out onto the tarmac in good time – and then crew announced departure was held up for an hour. No clear statement on why. Since the engines were going, I couldn't phone my Washington hostess to let her know the plane would be in late. In the end we left nearly 2 hrs late. The plane made up about an hour, but still, well behind estimated arrival time. I staggered out to the Metro bus (dragging my recalcitrant baggage) and hopped off 40 mins later, then took two Metro trains. I arrived a good hour later than what I had believed would be the latest likely arrival time.

That might not have been so bad (except that meri_oddities is a very early riser and would no doubt have liked her sleep), but my mobile phone refused to pick up a signal, so I couldn't even let her know I was on my way. Everyone else was phoning home from the train. Took a taxi. Naturally the driver got the address wrong (I think he got it right first time, then forgot about that in the excitement of telling me about his brother in London). So I suggested he pull over and phone Meri, which he readily did. She directed him (not far), and I got there at last. Phew. At about 4:30 in the morning London time.

Then I woke up about 2:30 am Washington time.

However, it's a very pleasant looking day, though promising to be warm (crerainly not likely to rain for a couple of days at least, a welcome change), and I'm off to find a SIM card that will actually make phone calls, y'know?

Then maybe I shall go to see something at the National Gallery of Art. They have a promising exhibition of medieval illuminated manuscripts.

That's a Ford Madox Brown painting  which I've seen again recently, in the Birmingham Art Gallery (which has excellent holdings of Pre-Raphaelites and associated artists), and fortunately my departure is almost certain to be more comfortable than the emigrants', facing into a howling gale. Tomorrow I go back to London and take the plane for Washington (DC). Must remember to check in on line and try to get a decent seat.

My last week here has been very pleasant: staying with friends, enough sleep, taking it easy (but doing a little leisurely museum-visiting), plenty of sunshine (though my second day out, on Friday, started with going shopping for a new mouse in dismal rain). I was able to go to the special exhibition mounted in Birmingham about Matthew Boulton (celebrating the 200th anniversary of his death): engineer, scientist, industrialist, entrepreneur, facilitator, inventor, and a person it would have been fascinating to know. I'd really wanted that, since I read about it last year.

It's odd, being the most able-bodied person in the house. My dear friend of many years still hasn't fully recovered from a stroke 18 months ago, and her husband has had diabetes since the 70s and is now on kidney dialysis. So I find myself climbing ladders to flip fuses back on again, carrying a microwave downstairs to replace the one that died in the middle of cooking the rice – though mostly it's been an easy, peaceful visit. Usually I summon my brother to replace light bulbs, because I hate standing on a ladder reaching up to the ceiling (combination of worsening tendency to vertigo and illness-impaired balance). I hope that if I come back next year I shall see them again, and find my friend, at least, in better health. We've talked down the moon, and enjoyed Matthew Boulton together, and researched stuff on the net...

Help! I have spent a frustrating morning trying to find out if I can buy a US SIM card for my mobile phone, that won't cost the earth to make phone calls inside the USA (either locally, or at Heathrow, or somewhere accessible by public transport in Washington). AT & T apparently sells an "international wireless SIM card" for $19.95 with acceptable charge rates, and are said to have excellent US coverage, but do you think I can find it on their website? I can see myself buying a $29.95 refurbished phone with $25 airtime thrown in (if I can find one in a shop, because I've left it too late to order on line), though I'd much rather have a SIM card for my existing phone. Any recommendations for suitable shops? I'll be able to get to Silver Spring MD, or anywhere in central DC that's on the Metro (or on the Red line).

Before I left London I enjoyed my day in the country (Essex) visiting inamac and lil_shepherd (and meeting Ina's Dracopup, who is delightful, and minute). In Washington I’ll be staying with meri_oddities. In San Francisco I hope to see, and talk with, as many as possible of you who are at Azkatraz. It's very close now! Nice to have meetings to attend with Snape people, Snarry people, Snupin people and Snape/Hermione shippers.

If not on all things lovely...

Tomorrow night we're off. Today, I'm off to the country Essex to see inamac and lil_shepherd.

And it's sunny again, with blue skies, after last night's heavy rain (just when we wanted to go out to dinner, bah). We went anyway, in heavier shoes, with umbrellas, and had our one and only meal this year at a favourite Indian restaurant we found last year, on Cromwell Rd, when staying over Earls Court way (The Delhi Brasserie). Somewhat to our surprise, the senior waiter recognised us, clearly remembering conversations from last summer. (So did one of the others, though more vaguely and uncertainly – still in training, obviously!) The food was as we recalled: excellent. A good night.

Earlier, you should have seen my poor little notebook, with something in almost every orifice (sounds a bit obscene, that). My brother had just purchased noise-cancelling earphones and a 16 GB Walkman, and was busy downloading and installing software from the CD, charging up the Walkman, charging up the batteries for the headphones, while I had the iPod charging up in the last USB port. Now he has a Walkman, he doesn't care about my little 1 GB iPod... except that he'd like to copy the music off it (our CDs, not iTunes, I should say). While I frivol with friends, he'll be busy seeing if he can download (as promised) from the BBC's iPlayer (not possible once we leave here, unless you use an anonymiser, I understand), and seeing what other sources of music he can nobble for the trip home tomorrow night. Rather me than him, on a lovely sunny day.

Our last visit to London has been more peaceful than the first; we've had some spare time.

On Thursday after a little gentle window-shopping I went to the British Museum (having decided that my destination (that or the British Library) would be chosen by the first appropriate bus to come along Oxford St. I was rewarded by discovering the two new Medieval Europe permanent galleries. Old friends – the Sutton Hoo treasure, and at the other end of the size scale, the Dunstable Swan (a tiny enamelled badge of a swan, chain round its neck, ruffling its feathers). Also new stuff – the sort of thing my brother and I have spent much of the last two months looking at (or for) in cathedrals, churches, and ruined abbeys – but all superb of their kind, especially the floor tiles. I nearly swooned in ecstasy, to see yards of flooring, still with the lovely colours, and the set of king, queen and archbishop portraits (possibly a wall decoration).

I was able to meet auntymarion for coffee on Friday at St Pancras, so we popped over to King's Cross to see where Platform 9¾ had got to (its usual location being All Over Works, so it's off platform 8 at present), and took silly photos of each other, like everyone else. Then I went back for some select viewing in the national Gallery. It's no trouble to renew my acquaintance with Titian and Rembrandt and Constable every summer!

Must start getting ready for my day off out!

We leave Worthing later this morning, and this evening we dump the car out at Heathrow (or in its environs, anyway). Then – sigh – we stagger with our baggage up to our hotel near Kings Cross.

We find we have a bit more free time in London than we thought. We'd anticipated needing a laundry day, but that's done (for the last time, yay!) yesterday; and a lay day (which will go on shopping, at least for my brother. (He wants noise-cancelling earphones and a not!iPod MP3 player; if his researches on the net showed him nothing else, it was not to buy at Heathrow duty-free.) We have two exhibitions to visit, scheduled for Saturday and Monday (the day we leave).

So. Anyone want to meet me for coffee or a beer or just a chat during the day on Thursday, Friday or Sunday?

I should be reachable by email or responses to this in the evenings, and in the morning up to say 9:30 am. Anyone who'd like my UK mobile phone number, for fine-tuning, just say (with your preferred email address), and I'll send it off.

I shall miss the car! But I shan't miss the moving about. Not too many more moves: London, Birmingham, London for the plane, Washington, San Francisco, Sydney, then the bus home. *slavers at the thought of own bed and bathroom and thick curtains*

Last National Trust house visit today. We'll probably be too knackered to go out to dinner tonight, so cheese and biscuits and wine from the nearest M&S or Sainsbury's.

( For the last thirteen nights we've been staying at Lee on the Solent, which is at the end of the long peninsula on the other side of Portsmouth Harbour, which adds quite a bit to travelling time )

Worthing will be our second-last stay in the UK, and perhaps I'll get my diary updated there. It's well behind!

I've managed to keep up with my flist reading, if not commenting. Azkatraz is getting very close (or so it feels), and I hope to see as many of you as possible there.

We've had about a week of fine weather here in the UK southwest, and I hope it continues! I'm running about in a Tshirt and hat (and enough other clothing to be respectable, thank you). Great gardens are much more enjoyable in sunshine than in rain, or even drizzle (eg our visit to William Morris's Kelmscott Manor was ... damp – not that it's a great garden, but it's very pleasant). We've seen some very fine and unusual churches. We're staying in a B&B that's almost luxurious (handsome house, newly renovated rooms – an armchair each, good heavens, excellent bathroom, clean, views of foxes and rabbits out of the windows – and the M5 about 100 metres away; fortunately the double-glazing is effective). Out satnav has taken us down every 6'6" high-hedged winding road in the vicinity, I think; it disdains the perfectly good B3181. (Exeter is about 10 miles off – and a good half hour's drive, by Tom's routes.) At least Tom hasn't tried to kill us lately.

Thursday we move to a B&B west of Southampton, and if we are lucky the owners can recommend us a launderette (this seems to be the preferred UK spelling). The last time we washed clothes, we drove into Bath (half an hour), my brother dropped me at the top of the pedestrian precinct and joined me after he'd parked the car a fifteen-minute hike away. Then we took it in turns to visit a museum of south-east Asian art – great ceramics, excellent curation – and a second-hand bookshop (where we bought two gorgeous Ronald Searle cartoon books), and to pump 20p pieces into the dryers (hardly time to breathe, never mind fold the clothes). Great laundrette, though – everything worked! Terrible, the things that make you happy when you're travelling.

We're in Lee on Solent (wherever that is – I suspect it means greater Southampton) for 13 days, so maybe I can post again before we move on.

Title Honour Where It's Due
Author Leni Jess (leni_jess)
Character(s) Draco and his parents, Neville
Rating G
Word-count 3757
Warnings References to canonical death of a character
Summary Draco at last sees what Snape has done, and what the future might be.
Author's Notes This was written April 2009 for springtime_gen, one of whose mods, kennahijja, kindly and effectively beta read it; my thanks to her! Thanks are also due to inamac for emailing the final version in for me, enabling submission several days (it turned out) before it would have been possible, otherwise.

( Honour Where It's Due; Draco, G )

( I feel like the White Rabbit )

( Alas poor SIM card )

( And alas poor flash drive )

( Stone walls may not a prison make but )

( Meanwhile, travelling enjoyably )</span>

I've had a free account for a little while (thanks to korestemenos), and this evening I gave several people access (working through my mutual friends in a disorganised way). I don't expect to be reading DW, though; I'll continue following my flist on LJ (or IJ if I must), so please don't take me off your list t/here!

( The Perils of the North )

</span>( We're now in Manchester )

Monday we go on to a hotel outside Gloucester where we were exquisitely comfortable last year. But first I have to do our washing.

( Goodfic for me! )</span>

We are having an excellent time.

Even if those of you in receipt of emails and messages might not think so, given the volume of complaints about the on-and-off accessibility of the net with this dongle thingy; I think by sheer superstition I now have it working properly, and any net access is streets better than none. When it is good, like the little girl, it is very very good.

Our idea of happy touring is (a) art exhibitions and notable museum collections, (b) scenery, (c) churches and cathedrals, and (d) historic homes and castles. These days, with walking and uphill stuff kept to the minimum (see my Traveller icon). My brother did (c) and (d) while we were in Kent, and the last couple of days I joined him in (d).

The weather in London is extremely so-so, but we picked a fairly fine day to go to Kew gardens, and the rest of the time, when not scuttling to tube stations/waiting at bus stops, wearing all our layers (me, anyway), we're indoors.

( Do you really want a list of the exhibitions we've seen this week? Okay, let me excite your envy – or dismay. )           

This week I've cooked, most evenings, which makes a nice change from going out to restaurants every night, which we did last year. This is our last self-catering stay, though. After this it's restaurants for dinner, or wraps from Marks and Sparks, or whatever we can come by.

Next Monday bright and early we set off for a one-night two-day tour of East Anglian cathedrals and churches, the start of a 6-week car trip.

ETA: I don't know why Semagic has started to screw with my posts by omitting any paras in front of the first lj-cut...

There was this theory that our London hostel had net access in the rooms. Yes, ( if you pay ₤1/hour )

( Touring and HPcon report )

Roll on London art exhibitions!

I shall check my email on the desktop for the last time around 6 am tomorrow morning, just in case. Then I'm AFK [what does that mean, plz? "away from... the Known Universe?"] until the evening of 2 May, at which point I'll be in London, and hoping that the wifi in the student hostel we're staying in does indeed work.

In between packing (that's pretty much done), I'm still trying to write fic. Woe. At least I have managed to make bookings for all the accommodation we need in the UK. I shall be glad when we're on the plane, even with almost 24 hours of flying ahead of us. I'm taking a couple of books, because usually I can't sleep for more than 2-3 hours, and the batteries on the notebook and the PDA are going to run out long before we get to London.

I plan to have a good time, first at the Harry Potter minicon deathday_party in Kent that sabathea has organised. Then later just being a tourist in the UK (though one more interested in churches and gardens than in, um, let's say, modern stuff). And last of all, Azkatraz. Sometime before I leave the house at 6:55 am tomorrow I need to write a ficlet, so that I can print it for passing around.

Don't break anything while I'm gone!

My cold is almost gone – I think this at regular intervals. I still have the nasty hacking cough and the clogged throat, though. I hope Security lets me take my bottle of cough mix on board the plane!

This is Monday night; we leave early Friday morning. So I'm panicking about lots of stuff. Also charging various things (iPod, camera battery) and backing up stuff. My brother will be coming over later in the week to make a backup of his TomTom satnav on this computer, for safety.

( Panic stations! )I now seem to spend a certain amount of time at night making lists feverishly instead of sleeping. I'll be glad when I'm packed and on the road.

If you want to get in touch with me while I'm travelling, I'll have net access some of the time, but not between 24 April and 2 May. There will be other gaps later. My mobile phone number is ( Send me an SMS rather than phoning )

( Pics of self and brother, for people who don't know us )

We took time out to have a very pleasant Thai lunch today, in between haircut (him) and last minute shopping (me).

Title The Flower of Cities
Author Leni Jess
Characters Severus, Hermione
Rating PG
Warnings Nope. Well. Genfic. Friendfic. AU (in that Snape is alive, plus EWE).
Summary Sam Johnson said, "If a man is tired of London, he is tired of life." Hermione exerts herself to make sure that Severus Snape won't get tired of London, and may indeed find interest in life. She doesn’t feel quite so helpful about another ex-Death Eater's new life, however.
Word length 10,454
Author's Notes Written November 2008 for the sshg_exchange (winter '08).
London hasn't been my home town for some thirty years now. Thank you to my beta aunty_marion, who is a Londoner and who, among other things, did a fantastic job of making sure all my references checked out. Thanks also to the mods for patience; to the exchange readers for encouraging comments; and to my brother for listening to me wail for weeks.
My sources and the original prompt are given in the End note.

( The Flower of Cities, Severus/Hermione, PG )

( My sources, for those who asked, and the prompt )

Author Leni Jess
Title Chasing Miss Granger
Rating NC17
Pairing Lucius/Hermione
For additional posting data, see Part 1

( Chasing Miss Granger, Lucius/Hermione, NC17, Pt 2 )

Author Leni Jess
Title Chasing Miss Granger
Rating NC17
Pairing Lucius/Hermione
Disclaimer All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of JK Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary Lucius Malfoy decides that courting the influential and esteemed Miss Granger would improve his social and political standing in the post-war wizarding world; Hermione decides that allowing him to do so would give her a clearer understanding of pureblood thought and intent, the better to keep them in their place. Then things get a little out of control.
Warnings EWE
Word Count ~12,000 words
Author's Notes Written March 2009 for hp_springsmut. I might have gone on a lot longer, and introduced a lot more plot, if only it hadn't taken me far too long to write this! Just as well I didn't; it's better like this.
I am grateful to my beta readers slashpine and shiv5468 for going through this fic so quickly and carefully, to bethbethbeth for her check for a specific issue, and to the exchange mods for patience.



( Chasing Miss Granger, Lucius/Hermione, NC17 )

I phoned to enquire how my notebook was getting on in the repair shop, since it was by then late Friday arvo. Hoo boy. It has a defective (1) heatsink, and (2) keyboard. They are waiting for the parts. Early/mid next week? I can see I will be very damned lucky if I get it back before Easter. Meanwhile I'll have to do everything on clunky old Cougar for going on for three weeks. I know I'm lucky to have a reserve computer, so as not to be going over to my brother's place to do it all, but am still not a happy camper.

*goes looking for a bottle* Pity I ran out of bourbon and didn't restock. *decides to read more novels*

I have done a few of those RL jobs – mostly the ones that needed phone calls.

I think I'm in mourning for my notebook. No, it's not dead, but it's in for repairs since Monday. I couldn't use it after Sunday (spent on backing up and removing fanart and fanfic). Maybe it'll be back Friday evening.

It's okay sitting at the desk where my clunky old limited-memory desktop resides, to read email and catch up on LJ. I find myself very resistant to reading there, though, so this week I've read mostly novels (printed books! held in the hand! making holes in the webs of my thumbs!), and got very behind on the sshg_exchange.

I'm still making up bits of my springtime_gen fic in my head and not writing them down. I'm reading over established text and outlines for the two Hermione fics I have to choose between writing, for hermionebigbang (and the mods have assigned me a delightful cheerleader, so I have someone to discuss the matter with; that's lovely).

There's a long list of RL things I ought to be doing, from ringing my dentist to advising Centrelink that I'll be away for three months to booking our bus rides down to Sydney for the plane. And booking accommodation in some more English towns, now my brother and I have settled a few more plans. That really requires me to feel energised, to tackle all that googling and digging deep into hotel and B&B websites to find out how much they *** well charge for a bed. Got a battery, anyone?

Maybe I'll take my espresso back to bed and go back to that fantasy novel I was reading. The caffeine might do something for my resolution. We leave three weeks from tomorrow. Eeep.

Title Resurrection of the Body
Author Leni Jess (leni_jess)
Rating N17
For warnings and other posting data, see Part 1.

( Resurrection of the Body pt 4 )

Title Resurrection of the Body
Author Leni Jess (leni_jess)
Rating N17
For warnings and other posting data, see Part 1.

( Resurrection of the Body pt 3 )

Title Resurrection of the Body
Author Leni Jess (leni_jess)
Rating N17
For warnings and other posting data, see Part 1.

( Resurrection of the Body pt 2 )

Title Resurrection of the Body
Author Leni Jess
Rating N17
Word Count ~39,000 words
Pairing Lucius/Hermione
Summary Hermione's memories of being tortured in Malfoy Manor include images Bellatrix created of Lucius hurting her in a different way. Now she finds herself helping him, getting closer all the time, with Snape's assistance, working from a script neither of them can read. Being a Gryffindor really stinks, sometimes.
Warnings Sex magic, rock 'n' roll, and Slytherin debates on good and evil. Also angst, romance, and maybe even a touch of fluff (avert!).
More seriously, intermittent dubious consent on both sides.
Disclaimers Characters and settings are JKR's. The plot and the magic you don't recognise are mine. No profit made.
Author notes Written December 2008-January 2009 for wizard_love. Thank you, most heartily, to my beta readers slashpine and aunty_marion, and to ragdoll for being a wonderfully generous and forgiving and patient mod, waiting out my writer's block. Without my beta readers, who found massive amounts of extra work for me to do, this story would not be anything like what I so much wanted it to be; they forced me to make it better. Heaven bless all beta readers, who work hard for no reward!


( Resurrection of the Body pt 1 )

Remember the warranty on my notebook that the company wasn't going to be able to act on? I contacted the relevant sales manager of the shop, and indicated that I'd like my money back. This spurred him into action, and before long I heard from the warranty/repair people that they'd found someone who could do the job. That mob phoned me, and told me a courier warrant would arrive in the mail (in theory, today). (Must check mailbox soon.) Cross fingers this works out okay.

Wen I do have to buy a new notebook, it's going to have the longest possible manufacturer's warranty! The Lenovo 12.1" has a 3-yr warranty, as well as lots of hard drive and memory. We'll see what's available when Merlin falls over for the last time.

And on an unrelated topic – my Targus mini USB mouse bought in Singapore last June died in September (it only had a 3-yr warranty on it, but at least it had the grace to survive until I was home again). Once the sales doco arrived by sea mail from the UK, I set about invoking said warranty. After a while that branch of Targus got back to me and told me to take it up with the Australian branch. Did so. The bloke on the phone said he would send me a new one, and I didn't need to hand in the corpse.

When no new one arrived, I emailed, and was told: send deader to get new one. Sent snarky reply, asking who was telling me the truth, and this is bad business practice. Received reply saying: ooh, ah, didn't know he'd promised you a special favour (he didn't); we'll send one at once.

Still no new mouse. Emailed. Reply: send deader to get replacement. Emailed copy of correspondence, suggesting she read all her out- and inbox. Got very brief reply: will send. Waited in some scepticism. But today, ta dah, this morning, yay, a courier brought the new mouse. Sent thank you note.

It is black instead of red, but that's okay. It's also minute – I'd forgotten how small, in the last six months of using something from Kmart that's three times the size (and it's not big). I know I shall get used to it quickly, though, and such a little thing is so much more convenient for travelling.

Yay for being a stroppy customer.

Queensland was my home state for about 26 years, and for about another 10 years after my long residence in London, but I seemed to be out of step politically with my fellows for most of my life. Australians probably still remember Joh Bjelke-Petersen, who was conservative as whoa (and fundamentalist and a lot of other unlovable –ists, especially if there's a word "corruptist"), who ran the place for 19 years. When I came home from London (straight after Margaret Thatcher won power in the UK, heh) I couldn't work out why people kept voting for Joh.

But today – today, Queesland has made a first: elected the first woman premier in Australia! Yay Anna Bligh! What's more, she belongs to my preferred political party (Labour). We've had female premiers before, all three of them (Carmen Lawrence, Joan Kirner, and Anna Bligh herself) replacing the elected premier because they were deputies, but this is the first time one was voted in.

Then last year Queensland chose Penny Wensley as its (probably last) Goveror (she was a former student of mine, *gulp*). Penny was a noted diplomat for a good many years.

And the year before Queensland's previous (then current) Goveror Quentin Bryce was chosen as Goveror-General of Australia (also probably the last). She was a fellow student of mine.

I can’t claim any responsibility for this trifecta, but I'm enormously pleased to see it.

Get thee behind me, Satan temptation: I noticed last night that Amazon is offering Save 58% on The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Complete Series. They say, "The 41-disc set has all four seasons plus over 10 hours of bonus features." Now $US89.99 is serious money in $AU, but 41 discs? Considering how I'm lagging on watching M*A*S*H, Stargate SG1, and much shorter things like Yes, Minister, Cadfael and I, Claudius, to say nothing of my 5-disc sample set of MfU, I'd never get through them before the end of the century! It took years to watch them the first time, after all. *sigh* (Bet they're not available for Region whatever-Australia-is, either.)

RTW trip #3: We've booked the air travel and the car hire. Our preferred London hotel will be closed for refurbishment. Working on other room bookings. (My brother has touring director's block just now, alas.)

Current fest fic: Reams of notes. No text.

At the end of July '06 I bought my notebook, ( Which is falling apart, and the insurance is no good )

Grr. As if I don't have enough to do.

Today my brother and I went in to town to have brunch with the family, then went to book (a) our air fares for this summer's trip to the northern hemisphere, and (b) care hire for about seven weeks in the UK. We staggered out about an hour later some AU$9,000 poorer (or we will be when it's all paid for).

Now I need to book (c) our bus trips to Sydney to catch the plane and get home again, and (d) our London accommodation. Once my brother has finalised the dates for our UK touring, I shall see if I can book (e) a beautiful, peaceful, but normally out-of-our-price-range hotel outside Gloucester at an affordable rate – I'll probably have to try a zillion alternative dates to strike lucky – where we hope to veg out in superb comfort for a few days' rest mid-tour, and (f) somewhere in Masham (Yorks) where we plan to return to celebrate the wonderful Black Sheep beer they make there, and possibly do a little gentle touring of local churches etc. Already booked are (g) the Harry Potter con in Kent (deathday_party) and (h) Azkatraz (including room sharing arrangements). To do, is (i) book a bed at the nearby San Francisco downtown Hostel International for a couple of days beforehand. Then after that we need to book (j) wherever we're staying the rest of the time on our tour of the UK. No more spending hours on the net looking for affordable accommodation while travelling for us.

Am I organised or am I not? Bit of a toss-up, I think.

I heard yesterday from a dear friend in the UK whom I can stay with the week before I fly out from London to Washington. This is good, because she and her husband are both in very poor health, but hope to be coping a bit better by then. Last summer I only saw them for a few hours; this will be so much more satisfying. We shall sit about and talk the moon down from the sky, and I shall go in to town a few times for museums/shopping, and no doubt do some household shopping when going to and fro.

My thrice-damned internet connection is going in an out like a yoyo on speed in a revolving door. It ordinarily only does that in the study (beside the router), not in the bedroom. Grr. I've about given up on catching up on LJ. For now.

And I have no overdue fics any more! However I do have one due in about 3.5 weeks time. That's an eternity! Especially since I already have a fair idea what it's about. *crosses fingers that the writer's block fairy didn't hear that*

Receiving an email from Hilton hotels pushing a new hotel line, I was charmed (not) by their innovative use of the English language supposed to be native to us both:

"Denizen Hotels will become a cultural epicentre at each of its destinations, cultivating community within its walls. Eclectic, social and humbly authentic, each property within the brand will be smart in design, cultural in character and sensitive in service delivery. Developed as an international intersection of business and pleasure, Denizen Hotels will redefine how guests stay and play."

humbly authentic *howls again, running out of breath here* (At least they had my email address legitimately – what an odd souvenir of Prophecy.) I shouldn't be shocked; I've read sillier stuff, I suppose.

*crawls out from under rock where I'm holed up with stubbornly unfinished fic*

My wizard_love fic has been posted, and it's beautiful: sweet yet realistic Snape/Tonks, both of them very much IC, yet giving Snape something he never had in canon. I don't want to spoil either the novel notion, or the lovely feel of the story, by saying more. Go read! Reasons to Return on LJ, or here, on IJ.

Title Journey's End
Author Leni Jess (leni_jess)
Rating NC17
Word Count ~6,450 words
Warnings None, but consider the implications of the summary and the rating
Summary Snape/Lupin. Remus Lupin has been trying to seduce Severus Snape for over twenty years. The long quest might be ending at last...
Disclaimer Characters and setting belong to JK Rowling and associated entities. This story is not written for profit.
Notes This was written January 2009 for hpvalensmut. Thanks to my beta readers florahart, bronze_ribbons and aunty_marion, who all contributed in different ways and made me think more carefully about many things.

( Journey's End, Snape/Lupin, NC17 )

I've just read the hpvalensmut fic that was written for me, and enjoyed it so much! If you like Snape/Neville, you should too. It's a two-parter, starting here: Released. Their characterisations are faithful and lively, developed from canon, both of them having grown; and the plot is quite novel; the development of their understanding and relationship is beautfully done within that.