Otter's Rock

So, I was just reading a fic and it was a good story, but there were quite a number of grammatical issues: misplaced commas and apostrophes, wrong homonymns, etc.  There was a note at the bottom "Rewritten--grammar issues fixed!"

I don't want to know what it was like before ...


Fics what the Intarwebs have not provided for me that I would love to read.

1. A Downton Abbey AU where Mary got pregnant when she slept with Mr. Pamouk in season one, and she and Cora went to America to "visit" *cough*have the baby in secret*cough* and when they came back, they passed it off as Cora's child.  (And if it was a boy, even told Robert that it was Cora's--after all, a son of Cora's and Robert's would inherit the title, cutting Matthew out of the succession again, and that would be Dishonerable! and Robert would object.  Cora, however, strikes me as much too practical for that, and much happier with her own grandson (even if he is a bastard) getting her money and the estate than letting someone else get it.)  To make things even more interesting, you know of course that O'Brien would have to go along with them--Cora would never leave her maid behind, even if she wanted too it would be too suspicious.
2. OuaT fic that is neither RumBelle nor Swan Queen nor about Captain Hook.  There are so many wonderful, fascinating characters and events that just beg to be explored, and what do people write?  98% of fic falls into three categories.  First is the woobification of Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold to make him into a Tragic Love Interest (and ignore all the things that make his and Belle's relationship interesting, and also forgetting that his number one motivation is getting Bae back and his number two motivation is power and only then does Belle come into things).  I find this trait disturbing on a number of levels, not least of which is that most people I know who woobify bad guys on TV are also likely to do it in real life ("oh, he means well!  it's okay because he loves me!  of course he does bad things and treats me badly, but it's okay because he had a bad childhood!")  Second you have the Emma/Regina stories, which do often woobify Regina but are at least less likely to be as blatant at it (because of all the hate!sex fics).  And, you know, while I think their relationship (in a non-sexual sense) is fascinating and would love to see it explored, I don't much care for woobification and I like hate!sex even less, so there's most of that pairing that I have no interest in.  And then you have fic about Captain Hook, who fills a role on the show but is pretty much your stock antihero/villain.  I mean, there's nothing about him that I haven't seen a thousand times in other characters.  Come on folks!  There is so much more interesting stuff going on in this show!

And, finally, and most grossly: ( RL Plumbing woes )

I'm going off to a training retreat, will be back Wednesday, may or may not have internet.  So if my xover_xchange fic is posted in that time, I don't know when I'll be able to read it.

The school shooting which made me throw out my sermon and write a new one

The parishioner who died yesterday, whose funeral is on Tuesday, with whose family I met today

The drains that backed up in the parsonage



Yes, all of those are much more important than Yuletide, and I didn't think of fic at all while dealing with them.  But now that I've dealt with them, I realized that I have lost a whole day of writing.

BEARS!!!

I've been quiet enough this year that I am not sure anyone will have noticed that I have been especially quiet this last month.  What have I been doing instead of reading and writing fanfic and being on DW/LJ/AO3?
( Real Life Stuff )

What I have been missing fannishly: The 2012 Bujold Ficathon.  There are so many awesome prompts, but I just do not have the time or mental energy to tackle any, right now.
Also, the heroines_fest sounds awesome, but what I know about comic books I know exclusively from the movies and fanfic, so I could only do the movieverse prompts, and see above re: time and mental energy.

Cool stuff: on the way home, listening to my CD collection, I found a couple of perfect songs for vids, and since I don't vid I am releasing them for anyone who wants them.

( Legend of a Mind--Perfect for psychedelic Dr Who vid about regeneration and companions )

And, for Once Upon A Time, two songs.
( You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You--isn't that the whole theme of Once Upon A Time? )

( More I Cannot Wish You (than to find your own true love)--again, perfect for the theme of the show )

Originally posted by cantarina1 at post

There's a certain kind of review that I only get at the Pit of Voles.  On fic marked completed, people say things like "Great start!  I can't wait to see what happens in the next chapter!"  Now, granted, I tend to write stories that are fairly open-ended, but I get that kind of comment regardless of how open or closed the ending of the story is.  "Completed" is not the default setting on that or *any* archive that has it as an option; you have to select it.  Is it too much to ask that some of them, occasionally, a) glance at the top of the screen to see whether it's a WIP or not before assuming there will be another chapter and b) not assume they can bribe/guilt me into writing a new chapter by hinting for one in their review?  I never get this type of review anywhere else, not even LJ/DW which has no helpful tickyboxes to tell you something is complete.  I usually write back something passive aggressive, along the lines of "Thank you for reviewing!  I'm glad you liked my story.  This fic is completed.  If you would like to write a sequel, I'd love to read it!"

ETA: Just got another one, this one with the gall to tell me what "needed" to happen in the sequel--basically a full outline.  Now, saying something like "wouldn't it be cool if ..." is one thing.  Saying "This is what you need to write next" is a whole different ball of wax.

Also, as the weather has gotten colder I have realized that my bedroom is the coldest room in the apartment.  This wasn't the case when I moved in in the summer.  I live in the second floor of a two-story house, where the second floor is two rectangles offset from one another.  One rectangle has my kitchen/dining/living area, and the other two small bedrooms and a bathroom.  Heat is provided by radiant baseboards along three sides of the exterior.  Three of my bedroom walls are exterior walls, two with windows in them; the baseboards only run along one (short) side.  I understand why they didn't want to run baseboards along that whole side--besides my bedroom, it's also the (narrow) entryway and part of my kitchen, so there's cabinets and stuff in the way and not a lot of room.  And maybe that corner of the house is just where it was easiest to tie in the pipes for the radiant heat.  But surely they could have done a little loop along the long side of the room?  At least the extra five feet to get under the other window?

I could use a good electronic calendar/scheduling software.  One that's free to use.  I would use Outlook, but it isn't part of the Student version of the Office suite (which, wtf, Bill Gates?).

Well, female Episcopal priests are kicking the rest of our buts when it comes to fashionableness and chic.  Not only have they been on What Not To Wear, there is now an Episcopal Priest Barbie!

Right now I'm at a seminar that's just absolutely wonderful.  The class has been great, and there's been free time to wander around Seattle and do touristy things.  Also, this afternoon I was able to go out with my brother and sister-in-law, and we had a great time.  The problem is, my left hip has never been quite right, and all the walking I've done this last week has it screaming.  (It's gotten worse since I was a kid and all it did was make learning to do the breath-stroke harder than it should have been in swimming lessons.)  I know, I know, if I were a better girl and did more exercise, it would not hurt as much now.  And there are a lot of people who have worse problems than me.  It is still Not Fun to get back to my host home at 9:00 at night and have to hold both the wall and the rail to make it down the stairs.  Not-quite-thirty-year-olds aren't supposed to have these kinds of problems.  But the class has been absolutely wonderful.

Also, winged_mammal won me in help_haiti and has several very interesting Data gen prompts to choose from, which I am looking forward to writing as soon as I'm not in a seminar anymore and have time to re-watch episodes and think.  (BTW, does anyone know if TNG episodes are available online anywhere?  I only have season three on DVD, and the eps I need are later in the series.)

Today I had the privilege of listening to John Nunes, head of Lutheran World Relief, speak and preach in church.  One of the things he said was that historically, Lutheran World Relief and other Lutheran charities have not had to advertise themselves--Lutherans gave regularly, as congregations and as individuals, and so money that other organizations had to spend on marketing and fundraising, LWR could commit directly to projects.  That's changing, and so Lutheran World Relief has just had to hire their first director of marketing.  And it seems to me that part of the problem is that we as Lutherans haven't been good at spreading the word about all the good things we do.  As children of God, we are called not only to spread the Good News, but to be what Luther called "little Christs" to our neighbor, spreading the love of God through tangible means of food, shelter, healing, companionship.  We give and we work, not to earn God's grace, but to share the love God has given us.

Lutheran World Relief works in 35 countries throughout the world.  They seek lasting solutions to poverty and injustice in some of the poorest places in the world.  While they do disaster relief, their focus is on building communities and helping people raise themselves out of poverty so that when disasters strike, be they natural or manmade, the people can take care of themselves and are less dependent on the charity of others.  They work with and through local people and organizations, creating sustainable growth and working towards peace and justice.  And they do all that while staying financially stable in today's economy, and while spending less than ten cents of every dollar on administration (which is an incredible ratio--a lot of charities are good if they get less then twenty cents per dollar for administration).  LWR's projects include collecting and distributing quilts, health kits, clothing, etc, made by American Lutheran congregations, Fair Trade coffee, chocolate, and gifts (perfect for this holiday season!), disaster relief, and working with people in poor,  rural communities to figure out what they need and find a sustainable way to get it.

Lutheran Services in America is the largest social service organization in America.  It's larger than Catholic charities, larger than the Red Cross, larger than the Salvation Army.  It's an alliance of over 300 Lutheran health and human service organizations. Working neighbor to neighbor through services in health care, aging and disability supports, community development, housing, and child and family strengthening, these organizations together touch the lives of one in 50 Americans each year and have aggregated annual incomes over $16.6 billion.

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.  For over 70 years, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service has led a ministry of welcome to some of America’s most vulnerable newcomers.  They help people seeking safety from persecution in their home countries and reunite families torn apart by conflict. They resettle refugees. They protect vulnerable children who arrive alone in the United States. They advocate for compassion and justice for all migrants.

Lutheran Disaster Response works with local people and volunteers to rebuild lives and communities, both in the initial aftermath of a disaster and in the years of rebuilding that long-term recovery requires.

Through these and other organizations, Lutherans do great work in the world.  I encourage you to give as you are able, of your money, time, and talents.