(no subject)

[bironic]

Weekend to-do list:

1. Taxes
2. Passover shopping
3. Decide whether to go to PCA/ACA conference next week
4. remix_redux story
5. Write up "Twelfth Night" review
6. Revamp résumé for specific position
7. Finish season one of SGA
8. Write first few crack_van recs

Well, halfway there; that's not bad.

So, yes, re: item 8, I'll be "driving" the crack_van in April for House. That's a multifandom fanfic recommendation site, for those of you who aren't familiar with it. I've just finished the first three—it's harder than I expected!—which leaves about, oh, nine or ten to go. Hoo boy. First one will go up tomorrow; the rest get sprinkled throughout the month.

Speaking of recs and compliments and such, thank you so much, fallen_arazil and jadesfire2808, for your kind words today! What nice sentiments to wake up to.

Re: item 3, I've been feeling desperately unstimulated these past few weeks (with a few notable exceptions, almost all LJ- and LJ-people related)—missing academic and otherwise intellectual environments, realizing how long it's been since I had the opportunity to write a research or conference paper, losing what little tolerance I usually have for people's stupidity, and generally fearing for my sanity and my future. Completely unable to concentrate on work for all this, Friday morning I checked out the incomprehensibly large PCA/ACA conference program to skim the list of presentations and see whether there were enough exciting papers/panels to warrant taking three days off next week to attend. Turned out there weren't, somehow. However, just reading all those titles and imagining what some of the papers would cover did wonders for recharging my brain, and I did come across a few I'd really like to read, so I wrote to several presenters asking if they'd mind sharing a copy. Today I heard back from a woman presenting on language play in House who has quite amiably agreed to send me a copy afterwards (and she knew who I was, which was pleasantly startling), so that should be fun. Stay tuned for details.

Oh and also, when I dropped my mom and her boyfriend off at the airport last night, she gave me the spare set of keys to her house and told me to stay over there as often as I like while they're away. That way she gets the mail taken in and a house that isn't dark for ten days straight, and I get some alone time. I think I may just take her up on the offer once all the Passover prep is over. (We're doing the first-night Seder tomorrow, for some reason.)

Off to complete item 7 now. One two-part episode to go....

Comments

[bell]

I-- have no advice for the remix story thing. It'd vary, I imagine, according to the fandom/the story itself. If you're not inspired by it, though, perhaps you could try to think of what you *could* add to it to make it interesting-- or what you think would best improve the story. Think of it as a revision instead of a remix?

But I have no experience with that.

[barely-bean.livejournal.com]

hmm. the best remix stories I've read, the author has taken a kernel of the idea and then adopted it as their own. The trick is to distill the plot of the story down to its simplest elements so you can manipulate. Let me know if I can be helpful in anyway. I'm a good sounding board.

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

Off to complete item 7 now. One two-part episode to go....

Alas, as you've probably discovered by now, it's actually a three-part episode (the third part is the season opener for S2). I hope you managed to borrow S2 as well!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Yep, I was warned it would be a cliffhanger, and I've got the second season here, all ready to go tomorrow.

...Rodney's fun when he's snappy from no sleep, isn't he? :)

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

...Rodney's fun when he's snappy from no sleep, isn't he?

Rodney's always fun—but yes, I loved his snarky comments in these eps. It would be so much fun to see him face off with an equally cranky House.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I get it now! Before, I was certain House would be the winner in any verbal battle with him, no contest.

And now I've seen the ep your icon comes from, and the one where my only Rodney icon came from. (Know of any good screen shot sites?)

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

Know of any good screen shot sites?

There's one here: Abydos Gate (http://stargate-sg1.hu/atlantis/photos/).

I don't know how good it is. (I tend to make my own screenshots from the DVDs.)

[no-detective.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, PCA/ACA. I've done two of those - best time at conferences EVER (and I've presented at about a dozen).

I'm very curious about the House and language paper, especially since BtVS was so widely recognized - at least among us academics - as the innovator in dialogue and use thereof. Please share!

Will reply to your other comments eventually; now I must go pass out. Apartment hunting is haaaaard.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I was really looking forward to going to PCA/ACA for the first time this year -- and to submitting a presentation proposal, for that matter -- but the latter didn't happen, and it looks like the former won't either. Which is really too bad, considering its proximity. I've heard it's fun, if overwhelming and somewhat unmanageable. Best conference I've been to (& I haven't presented at as many as you, only... hm, five) was the Slayage Conference on the Whedonverses last year. Actually, you might be interested in the little write-ups I did on some of the papers (http://bironic.livejournal.com/36115.html#cutid1), including two on spoken language in BtVS and Firefly. You know, in all your copious spare time.

I envy you not your apartment search! Best of luck finding something that's right for you and in not too scary a neighborhood.

[jadesfire.livejournal.com]

I only drop into crack_van occasionally, but shall go and see what you rec - I've found some great stories that way. Putting my own rec list together was painfully difficult (and worrying when I realised how much time I spend reading fanfic ;)) so I've a new-found respect for people who do these things.

The paper on language in House sounds really intriguing - shall look forward to hearing about it. Does no.6 on your list mean you've found something that's less soul-destroying to apply for? *crosses fingers*

On the remix-front, when my own stories aren't working (about every other one) I tend to scrap everything and start again, working out what the point of the story is, whether it's for the plot or for a character. Then I can rewrite, getting to the same place in a completely different way. The other way of doing it is to just start writing, fairly randomly, whatever comes into your head, until the story tells you what its point it. It sounds a bit...zen...but I've found it really works - ok, I had to go back and completely redo a 5000 word piece because I didn't get the point until the end, but it was absolutely worth it!

Good luck. With everything! :D

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

So, when are/were your taxes due? I was so proud to finally get my taxes off last month (March) - they were only supposed to be in by October 2006.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Ha! U.S. federal taxes are due April 15, and in NY, state taxes are due the 17.

[kabal42.livejournal.com]

Re. remixing: I did an H/D remix last summer and was assigned a writer that was, well, not good... :-( *hopes to god no one knowing this person sees this*
That was really, really hard. I ended up finding a fic I actually felt had a very good premise and it wasn't badly written either and went with that. It was a short scene and I built a longish one-chapter fic up around what happened before.

What I guess I'm trying to say is, that find something where there's an idea of some sort that interest you and use that idea. Twist it in any way you feel would make it good or better or just fun to write.

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

Hurrah for taxes being done! (My least favorite financial chore every year.)

As for Remix/Redux: if something doesn't jump out right away, take a story where something appears obvious (e.g. a POV change) and run with that. Or, if the person has drabbles, take one of those. Hopefully you'll find something you can work with.

[ahab99.livejournal.com]

Yay for properly accented résumés! ;)