| Very awesome FMA AMV |
[05 Jul 2008|02:28am] |
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mood |
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enthralled |
] |
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music |
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Tool - Lateralus |
] |
It is set to Tool's Lateralus and is loaded with series spoilers for Fullmetal Alchemist. Still interested? See the video here.
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| Unfocused creative urges |
[09 Jun 2008|07:45pm] |
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mood |
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okay |
] |
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music |
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fans, many fans |
] |
I want to knit today but none of the projects on my needles appeal. Ultimately that's probably good since I've resorted to medication because my hands and wrists hurt too much today. Right now they're just mildly sore but I know that's just because I took the painkillers.
Knitting status report in brief:
( A cut to spare the non-knitting friends list. )
Non-knitterly stuff:
Despite the pseudo-jossing I'm still poking a bit on my last NaNo, mostly fleshing out side characters and trying to make the set of common technologies make sense with each other. If they have the technology available to accomplish some task and don't use it I have to have a logical reason why. Fortunately, things like "it costs too much" and "they find it morally repugnant" are "logical". Of course, for anything that is not used for "moral" reasons there is bound to be some group somewhere doing just that....
In a vague attempt to clean up part of my hard drive (HAH!) I dug around in my old writing files. Some of those ideas and story fragments are from twenty years ago (having moved from notebooks to my first PC and then traveling from PC to PC) and, well, they show it. I may have to find something that can handle Works files from Windows 3.1 days if I want to actually use some of those.
Anyway, I found some old characters that I might revamp for future NaNo attempts. I have a set of nearly seventy original characters from a Fanfic That Will Never Be Written (can we say Mary Sue tendencies?) that could have their fanfic origins removed quite easily, though some may not survive the operation. A slight tweak of the Childhood Trauma and the Morgan family would be good to go. One side character actually has a pretty good universe built around her so just shifting the lead to her rather than the matriarch of the family could even supply some sort of plot starting point... should I decide I want to write a modern/near future werewolf novel.
Alas, I'm still in the fandoms for the other FTWNBW character sets so it makes it hard to pull them out. They're also tied into the original worlds and character sets tighter than the Morgan set so it might not be possible. It's a pity since some of them are pretty interesting, but it's a multi-generational sort of set the grandkids might be salvageable.
I should draw.
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| If you can find my phone number... |
[02 Jun 2008|12:30pm] |
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mood |
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irritated |
] |
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music |
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none |
] |
You can fucking MAIL ME the page you seem think think I need to read concerning my domain. DO NOT fucking call me from INDIA and ask for a fax number so you can "fax me a single page" about my domain. If it's important, MAIL IT, if it is not - FUCK OFF!
This message brought to you by Tephie's "do NOT fucking FUCK with me" mood of the day.
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| Aw, crap. |
[15 May 2008|07:57pm] |
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music |
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KMFDM - Sturm & Drang |
] |
*head!desk*
Way too close to my last NaNo for comfort. While the dolls weren't the focus of my novel, they were pretty significant, and while Elyza technically isn't a doll there are too many similarities for comfort. :(
Shit. I liked my novel in progress.
Jossed and I wasn't even writing fanfic. :P
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| Why InsaneJournal is down |
[15 Apr 2008|11:32am] |
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mood |
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cranky |
] |
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music |
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Sisters of Mercy - This Corrosion |
] |
For anyone that cares and hasn't seen the answer yet, I grabbed this off the IJ Twitter feed:
- I am having a major problem with my hosting provider .. I will update the status soon
- The hosting company screwed up and turned off our database servers. They don't open for another 2 hours
- I will know more about what is going on in about an hour. Keep an eye here for an update.
- My hosting company f-ed up .. They canceled the databases and are telling me I can't have them back
- I have a copy of the db from about a month ago. I will work on getting that one back up and running asap
- I am working with the hosting company. I might be able to get a hold of the data. I will know in 1/2 hours
- 1-2 hours not 30 minutes
So if you somehow missed the slow downs on IJ lately now you have another sign that the hosting company needs to be changed.
ETA from the Twitter: It appears that I will be able to get the databases back,. I will update again soon when I know more
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| MagKnits and Ravelry |
[08 Apr 2008|02:12pm] |
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mood |
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amused |
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music |
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KMFDM - Sturm & Drang |
] |
Man, if Ravelry ever opens to the public there is going to be a need for a fiber wank comm. (![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/userinfo.gif) godsmagicpubes, y/y?)
After several threads regarding poor customer service and failure to ship orders from HipKnits, and failure to pay designers (or even notify them that their patterns were published) from MagKnits, the owner of both (and Yarn Forward) took down MagKnits in the finest flouncing tradition. No warning, no courtesy archive, not even a "get the patterns now, they're down in a week" sort of thing.
At least they left the copyrights on the patterns to the designers.
ETA: A good summary post here.
ETA2: An update. And another.
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| Original Character Q&A meme thing |
[05 Mar 2008|02:40pm] |
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mood |
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amused |
] |
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music |
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Megaherz - Herzblut |
] |
Swiped from askerian & joisbishmyoga (on LJ)
1. Choose a few of your own characters.
2. Make them answer the following questions.
3. Feel free to go ahead and add some questions yourself!!
4. Then tag three people.
( Questions and answers under the cut. )
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| Gift knitting |
[02 Jan 2008|07:12pm] |
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mood |
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accomplished |
] |
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music |
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Megaherz - Miststück |
] |
Delayed due to Dalek but now finally complete. YAY!
The best lighting in the house this time of year is in the bathroom (700 watts of halogen) so I apologize for the setting. Toboe (my howling wolf plushie) agreed to model.
( Photos and chatter in here. )
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| Well sometimes you just need to be reassured that you are, indeed, a geek |
[22 Dec 2007|06:49pm] |
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mood |
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amused |
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music |
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Eric Serra - Aknot! Wot? |
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| YES! |
[30 Nov 2007|10:12pm] |
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mood |
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ecstatic |
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music |
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kitty purrs |
] |
I started out Monday with 23,376 words and I just hit 51,628 which validated as 50,236 words.
28,252 words in five days, talk about a sprint to the finish.
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| And now, to the verifier! |
[30 Nov 2007|05:47pm] |
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mood |
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determined |
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music |
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Patches being a brat |
] |
EditPad: 50,004
NaNoSite: 48,670
Yep, about what I expected.
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| It's looking good! |
[30 Nov 2007|12:08am] |
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mood |
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optimistic |
] |
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music |
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Sorten Muld - Venelite |
] |
I just went over forty six thousand words on this year's NaNoWriMo novel. While that would seem to say I just need four thousand more to win the reality is that I probably need five or six thousand words still. The verifier just eats words. I can't figure out if it doesn't count single letter words like "I" and "a" or even if it counts hyphenated words as one or two, but it boils down to a discrepancy between my word count in EditPad and what NaNo's site says I have.
I finally gave the thing I title. I'm calling it Dead Dolls, though it's really hard to name something that isn't finished and is still wandering around trying to find a definite plot.
Yes, nearly fifty thousand words and still no plot. This year's novel is much weaker than last year's in that respect. I'm feeling around the edges of something though. If I take some time to actually follow some of the threads I'm picking up to their logical beginnings and ends I might figure out the theme at least. In cyberpunk tradition I seem to be getting some social commentary in there.
In true "Tephie is writing stuff" tradition I also seem to be playing the "are they or aren't they" bit with my characters. Sierna definitely was last year, with just about anyone that caught her eye. Elyza and Aeryn (the weird spellings started out as maybe something significant and now are both less and more so) might be, but probably aren't, but they might have once, and could in the future, possibly again. Yeah.
Well I want to try to get a few more thousand words down before I sleep so I will have time to go over fifty thousand tomorrow so it will verify before time is up. I'll let you know if I "win" or not tomorrow.
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| I might just make it.... |
[28 Nov 2007|11:44pm] |
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mood |
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creative |
] |
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music |
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Megaherz - Schizophren |
] |
40,050 words as of now. Just 10k left, and then probably another 1500 to make sure it will verify.
Man, for all the days I wrote nothing I'm really surprised that I'm this close to making it.
Note to self for next year:
You write more, faster, if you have characters you can send off in different directions!
I don't know if Aaron Moritz will come back into the story and find out that Elyza isn't dead, but his flashback gave me a huge boost on Monday and made this sprint possible. It cost him his legs, but that's okay, they grew back. (Hurray for cyberpunk medicine!)
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| Muahahaha! |
[27 Nov 2007|12:39am] |
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mood |
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excited |
] |
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music |
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the echo of much typing |
] |
I might not win NaNo this year, but I just went from 23,376 to 30,050 today so maybe I just might make it. I just have to figure out what happens next.
I got through today by having more characters to track, alas, I just killed one off. Though I gave the other some past history with one of my main characters, which might generate some long sections of verbiage. Pity they aren't going to meet soon, since he thinks she's dead and all. I don't think she'd approve of how he's changed over the years, if she remembers him.
Also, I finished knitting Mom's scarf for Christmas. The garter stitch scarf of DOOM, is done, I just need to weave the tails and graft the ends so it's a moebius. I might end up picking out the first row, it depends on if the start and ending points are in the right orientation for grafting. Not a big deal either way.
Woohoo! I broke 30k! Four days left so at least 5k a day will make it (I want to get more than that though because I know the verifier is going to eat at least 1000 words on me). If I can think of things to write I can still win. :D
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| Any DeviantArt users reading this? |
[22 Nov 2007|11:03pm] |
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mood |
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angry |
] |
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music |
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grinding teeth |
] |
Someone just accused me of stealing a piece of art (my one Yu Yu Hakusho fanart as a matter of fact). What's the protocol when someone just drops a bomb like that in the comments? Is hiding the comment a good idea or a bad idea?
I checked to see if I still had the original sketch and ink, I do, so if they actually reported it I have something to respond with other than a PSP file with my coloring work.
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| NaNoWriMo is still kicking my ass |
[21 Nov 2007|02:49am] |
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mood |
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creative, but tired |
] |
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music |
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Vernian Process - Calm Before the Stom |
] |
I'm about 12k behind. :(
But I did get 3k down today so it's moving at least. Winning is still possible, if I can manage about 3400 words a day. :P
After I get some sleep I'm going to try to get to 30k between the various stages of making apple pie from scratch. That will be a smidgen over 7k in one day though, so I have my doubts but I won't know unless I try and all that.
I lost some time on the NaNo by working on some knitting. I have two projects to finish for Christmas and now one of them is almost complete and the other I know I can finish if I take the time to put some movies on and knit while I watch.
The hat I knitted Saturday didn't do anything for any of my goals but it scratched the itch for starting something new. It's not done, I don't like the way the brim is going, but I have a life line in there so I'm going to rip back to that eventually. I'll start the brim a couple rows earlier on larger needles to compensate for this particular worsted being on the heavy side (and very "sticky", what a bitch to knit with).
It was more of a "keep me entertained" project than anything else so I might do just the first layer of the brim and bind off without cutting the yarn and try it on. If I don't like how it looks at that point I can frog the whole thing and not really mind. The yarn was a bit heavy for the project anyway. I did learn to do two over two cables without a cable needle by doing the hat though. And really, it would look better in a color rather than black. It's hard to see stitch detail in black.
I tried knitting continental today... I think I'll stick with English/throwing. I know I'd get quicker with practice, and I did have a few points of quick knitting, but the tensioning issues were driving me nuts. I just can't work how to run the yarn in my left hand and not have it be either far too loose or far too tight. (It's sort of weird, I crochet and can tension the yarn for that okay, but not for the knitting. O.o )
And after just fifty or so stitches my left hand started cramping up something awful. It's just a weird position to have my fingers in.
After a few rows of knitting when I was finally able to stay pretty constant on speed and tension I tried purling... I can see why so many people say they have different gauges between knitting flat and in the round now, and why so many people have rowing out issues. My continental purls were astoundingly loose. Sure, practice would probably fix the tensioning, but I suspect I'd cripple my already problematic left hand by trying.
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| NaNo isn't looking good |
[12 Nov 2007|11:55pm] |
| [ |
mood |
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frustrated |
] |
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music |
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Bloodhound Gang - The Bad Touch |
] |
Unless I get on a roll and have a couple truly spectacular days I won't have a chance to win. I should be hitting 20k and I'm not even at 16.
I like the characters, but there's no real story, just a situation to get out of and they're nearly out now. I have no ideas about what happens next. They get out, they get to a safe house, they bitch at their boss, that's about it. Here's hoping some inspiration hits soon.
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| NaNo update |
[05 Nov 2007|09:42pm] |
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mood |
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blah |
] |
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music |
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[in my head] Fiona Apple - Get Him Back |
] |
Still no idea where the story is going.
Have discovered a distressing habit to wander into talking head territory.
Like the characters, very WTF on the story. Though the idea of zombies created with technology for use as cannon fodder is oddly interesting. Of course someone else in the house has done it better, now that I think about it.
This original story is not as original as I would like I think.
I was lazy on Sunday so I'm trying to catch up today. Treating myself to an anime episode every 500 words seems to work pretty well.
I hope to have at least 8000 words when I stop tonight (which might be really early tomorrow with my habits).
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| Characters are perverse |
[31 Oct 2007|06:32pm] |
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mood |
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amused |
] |
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music |
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Tephra Lynn - Voices of the Valley |
] |
So here it is, about five and a half hours to NaNo'07 kick off, and Sierna (the main character from NaNo'06) is chattering her little hamsterish head off about how the kinless are treated in her home culture.
WTF hamstergirl? Where was this info this time last year?
Yes, yes, I'll start a TiddlyWiki for you. I promise to stick these little details in there and get back to them later. Maybe I'll be insane enough to do NaNoFiMo with your story, okay? But I swear, if this year's NaNo actually ends at 50k (unlike yours, which is what, half, maybe?) I'm doing NaNoEdMo for it instead and you'll just have to wait since you didn't speak up all year.
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| Woohoo! |
[31 Oct 2007|12:59am] |
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music |
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The Dresden Dolls - Coin Operated Boy |
] |
I have two characters! I have basic personalities on them and some very vague ideas about what they do but that's something to work with in the next 23 hours. :D
Of course I'm going to have to sleep for some of those hours but hey, I have characters now. They mentioned four other character names and I get an impression of one of them so maybe I'll have three shortly.
Now I just have to figure out what they hell they are doing for at least 50,000 words.
....
Ooh, hey, there's a plot idea. *pounces and writes that down before she forgets*
*MUAHAHAHA!*
NaNoWriMo is ON!
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