Random stuff that together makes a post.

[bironic]

* Thank you to everyone who responded to my last post about fannish grad programs. Advice is still most welcome.

* Don "Mr. Wizard" Herbert has died. Man. :( I grew up on that show, settling in with my dad to watch him make glue out of milk curds, talk about the colors different chemicals make as they burn in fireworks, fill a jar to the tippy-top with ice water to show his young volunteer that water loses volume when it melts, demonstrate peristalsis by having kids swallow pieces of apple while they stood on their heads, take a piece of string to a globe to show how flight paths shorten by curving up near the North pole, lift a heavy can on a pendulum up to his chin and let it go and not flinch as it swung back because he knew it wouldn't reach the same height, shake a bunch of people's hands after he dusted his own with fluorescent powder and then wait a few minutes while they all fidgeted during a meeting and then turn on a black light to show how easily germs spread... And then afterwards, we'd often duplicate his experiments. Yeah, many happy memories. I loved his computer's black keyboard with white letters, too; I thought of it when I got my first IBM laptop years later.

* Rifling through the folder of one of my clients, whose plastic surgery practice is based in Montana, I found an email from her to one of our graphic designers describing what kind of stock photos she wanted on her website. That in itself isn't unusual—but one of her requests was "no gay cowboys."

* fallen_arazil, thank you again for that LJ gift certificate back in December! It's become the gift that keeps on giving; half a year later, I've used it to extend my LJ paid time by two months. ♥

* Sporadic kidney pain, yay! Well, the best guess so far is kidney; am supposed to get yet more test results tomorrow. Since it started last Sunday I've been treated to a CT scan and an abdominal ultrasound and lots of pokey tests and got to miss a couple of days of work and everything. Aside from the, ah, sporadic kidney pain, it's actually been fun. Getting to experience a CT was enjoyable (and fitting that it happened on a Tuesday; no MRI-of-DOOM complications*, happily), and, at the risk of TMI, I quite enjoyed the ultrasound this morning. I'm very sensitive to touch—I detest being touched by people I don't like or have just met, and relish even the most incidental touches from people I do like—synn and thewlisian_afer know what I'm talking about—and have been starved for it for a long time. The technician pressing her hand and the handpiece over warm gel just under my ribs and on my side in slow sweeps for 20 minutes was oddly comforting.

On another note entirely, how sad is it that while I waited for confirmation that I could leave, I checked out the brand of lubricant on the counter (Surgilube) and made a mental note to have House steal that from the clinic in a fic?

* ETA: Correction: Now with MRI in the future, too!

* Fruit! (No, not you.) I went to a local year-round farm stand/garden center/petting zoo (former = original purpose, latter = income) Sunday morning and picked up lots of fresh produce, and my sister and I made a fruit salad that we're still eating our way through. Strawberries and peaches and nectarines and plums and grapes and canteloupe—and, not in the mix, string beans and tomatoes and peas and giant red leaf lettuce and sweet onions and corn. These are some of the joys of summer for we-who-do-not-like-the-heat (-and-don't-get-summers-off).

* RSL presenting at the Tony Awards this past Sunday night = yay. All unkempt hair and awkward smile and almost, almost brilliant speech. There were pictures of him and Gaby and him alone backstage at the pre-show over at house_daily for those of you who care but don't watch that community.

* Last of the Mohicans was on AMC Saturday night. I didn't see that movie until a couple of years ago, when I rented it because Sebastian Roché (my favorite actor no-one's ever heard of) was supposed to be in it, only it turned out he'd been cut. I was expecting to hate it, as I expect to hate all epic romances with heartthrob lead actors such as Daniel Day-Lewis or Brad Pitt, but I absolutely loved—and still love, as Saturday's viewing proved—the climactic Appalachian clifftop scene with Magua and Alice. His face, his surprised respect. Her serenity. The music. The scenery. Chingachgook's and Hawkeye's and Cora's reactions. Everything. Mm.

* Oh yeah, this is what it's like in the real world. I have no words for stuff like this.

* I was lucky enough to be able to see a montage of the Spacey Awards in which Dr. McKay won Favorite TV Character and SGA won Favorite TV Show, and David Hewlett shrieked and flailed his way through his acceptance "speech," and David Nykl was all Canadian-sounding instead of Czech-, and Jewel Staite was adorable (I am so psyched that she's joining the cast for next season), and Joe Flanigan and David Hewlett and David Nykl and Jason Momoa and Rachel Luttrell fake-fought over their Spacey and as I said over at sheafrotherdon's LJ where she has some low-res screen shots of the brilliance, really, what's better than watching a cast you love be goofy with each other?


Okay, 'nuff procrastinating. Time to convince House and Wilson to get down and dirty. They've prevaricated for a few thousand words now; enough's enough!

Comments

[velvet-midnight.livejournal.com]

It took me a minute and I had to check out his IMDB page for the pics, but...Sebastian Roche! From the awesome, short-lived series Roar. I loved him as a bad guy in that. :)

Heard about it, but need to see the clip from the Spaceys. Do you know if it's on youTube?

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I do not know if it is on YouTube, alas -- but -- ROAR! Longinus! Long blond hair and cheesy lines and tragic past and immortality and self-tattooing! You know the love! I totally got it on DVD the week it came out.

[velvet-midnight.livejournal.com]

Yes! I loved Roar when it was on! It's on DVD? Seriously? zomg.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I know, I could hardly believe they'd bothered, but it's true: http://www.amazon.com/Roar-Complete-Jefery-Levy/dp/B000GGSMO4/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-5370905-8023264?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1181742946&sr=8-1

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Hey, whose POV are you in, that they've prevaricated for a few thou? Because I find that Wilson will waffle for many, many words if you let him, whereas House will get bus-ay a lot more easily.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

POV's part of the trouble, actually -- it's third person objective. First of all, I'm used to either first person or third person limited, and second, it's tough to do a sex scene when you're not in one or both of the participants' heads! (so to speak)

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Huh, that does sound difficult. I'm very big on third limited, I can't remember the last time I was outside a character's head. Especially during a sex scene. Good luck with it!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Hee, that was a quick transition from inspired!Cookie to stumped!Cookie.

I'm most comfortable in third limited (and first, but that seems relegated to my more Mary Sue/"unpublished" stories these days), but the nature of this story requires either objective or round-robin, and I didn't want to do round-robin, so here we are. It'll work; it's just tougher than usual. But every story ends up being tougher than usual for some reason, doesn't it? Sometimes I wonder what those easy stories actually were that I seem to remember writing.

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Cookie doesn't know how to respond to that.

Every story is easy after it's finished. Right now I'm already anticipating how awesome the story I'm working on is going to be once it's done. As for actually finishing it? BUT THAT WOULD TAKE WORK.

I hear you on the POVs, though--sometimes it's hard to decide where to come from. Like, right now I'm doing some Wilson third limited, because that's how the first scene arrived in my head, but the story would be just as fascinating--not as funny, maybe, and different, but still interesting--from Foreman's POV. Perhaps at remix time next year, someone will indulge me and show me how it might've been.

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

The clip of David Hewlett can be seen here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdGPyZAd7rk) It's hilarious. (Tip: Start about 1 minute in to avoid the boring stuff at the beginning.)

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

David Nykl was all Canadian-sounding instead of Czech-

Oh, no! Say it isn't so! I can't bear to have my illusions shattered like that. *g*

Jewel Staite was adorable (I am so psyched that she's joining the cast for next season)

I'm glad Jewel Staite is joining the cast. It's the other addition that really has me upset and worried. I'm beginning to think that S3 might have been the highpoint of SGA (at least in regard to McShep).

Sporadic kidney pain, yay!

Boo! Interesting about the CT and US, though. Too bad Wilson wasn't the one performing the ultrasound. Now that would be worth having kidney pain for!

I hope they figure it out and that you feel better ASAP.

Time to convince House and Wilson to get down and dirty.

Sounds good!

Reposted to fix idiotic overhasty and incorrect HTML tagging.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I know! It's so weird to hear him talk without Zelenka's accent. He looks different. I like him both ways, but it takes some getting used to.

Love Jewel Staite. I also have nothing against Sam, which may have to do with how few SG-1 episodes I've seen (like, four?), or may be another manifestation of the sort of easygoing nature that makes me not hate Cameron either. If you dislike Sam for similar reasons to your hatred of Cameron, then I do see where you're coming from; but to me, they're like the rest of the cast: sometimes fun and sometimes annoying. I don't see them as threatening the various slash pairings on their respective shows; they're just another person in the mix. The problem comes when the writers just can't seem to explore the characters as people rather than OMG Women who Must Be Paired or Thinking of Pairing or Recently Unpaired with A Man, etc.

Too bad Wilson wasn't the one performing the ultrasound.

Nnnnnuhhhhh. Happy dreams tonight!

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

If you dislike Sam for similar reasons to your hatred of Cameron,

My feelings about the two characters are quite different, actually. I don't like Sam because she's written as a (male-fantasy) Mary Sue: she's perfect at everything she does. It's just not realistic. (I much prefer flawed characters like Rodney and Wilson.) Cameron, on the other hand, is simply a self-righteous bitch who drives me absolutely insane with her selective ethics and unsubtle seductive moves.

I'm hoping that my worries for S4 are overblown, though. (They usually are.) After all, if Rodney McKay just won a "favorite character" award, TPTB shouldn't want to downplay his role in favor of Carter (which is, or was, my biggest fear).

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh, oh, I see! And -- yes -- that bothered me when I watched "48 Hours" and the first half of "Redemption" last week -- like, why did they bring McKay into the episode if they weren't going to let him contribute to solving the problem?

[synn.livejournal.com]

"No gay cowboys"

*dies*

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I KNOW.

especially after that video

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

I have nothing relevant to say in response to this post, but I've been thinking about you for the past couple of days and just felt the need to tell you so because that's the kind of mood I'm in, apparently. ♥

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Aww. *squish*

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Just started ploughing through my flist and yay! new RSL pics! Hmm, he never can manage to look quite turned out in those tuxes...

Jewel Staite's name never ceases to amuse me. It always gives me the impression her parents must have been hippie physicists or something XD

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Welcome back! (or, Happy mid-vacation!, depending)

Hippie physicists, huh? I only got as far as "hippies" - and it didn't help that her costar was named Summer, and Summer played a character called River. *shakes head*

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Hippie physicists, huh?

Because, you know, um, "dual state" - which is pretty much the first thing I thought when I saw her name. I just thought that was way too bad a pun to be purely coincidental XD

I'm back, more or less :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh! Funny! That one went right over my head. Obvsly.

'f you're back, it's extra motivation to finish that chapter so I can send it to you for vetting to make sure I haven't stolen too much from "Interference" and then it can be posted and it will be done and yay.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Cool! I'm sure it's totally different, and will wait in breathless anticipation *g*. I really haven't been in reading mode lately in general, but it sounds like it'll be a bit of fun. Especially if there's pr0n involved XD

MRI, eh? Um.... enjoy?

[stephantom.livejournal.com]

I hope the kidney thing turns out to be ok... And hey, the MRI should be cool, lol. Last year actually I had a whole weird thing with my kidneys, and I got a kidney biopsy, with the aid of a a CT scan (on a TUESDAY and, like you, I also thought, "wee, I'm on House"), and got an ultrasound too. I found the warm gel kind of comforting, but the pressing of the thing on my stomach and abs -- not so fun, because I had to try very hard not to laugh, because it kind of tickled and hurt. She was pressing awfully hard, it seemed to me.

Turned out I had FSGS. But my case isn't as bad as it often is. I hope you don't have anything awful! (The first symptom I noticed was swollen ankles, so. Do you have any swelling?)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Icky. I'm glad your case is not so bad. No swelling here, no. Best guess so far is kidney stone, although the MRI is to check out something indeterminate in the liver. Side effect of going for scans is you find all this other stuff that has nothing to do with anything. We hope. Heh -- and the first available appointment was on Tuesday, again, but I opted for a slot the next day because I get to miss work that way. >:)

And yeah, the technician was pressing firmly most of the time. Dunno, TMI again, but I liked the pressure. Made me feel secure. Probably helped that I wasn't in any pain at the time.

[catilinarian.livejournal.com]

How can anyone NOT want stock photos of gay cowboys? It boggles the mind. But apart from that - are there really STOCK photos of gay cowboys? Like, sunset with outlines of tumbleweed, cactus, horse, two cowboys making out? Maybe it's become au fait among Montanan plastic surgery websites because people in Montana are having plastic surgery to look more like Jake and Heath. I have GOT to stop thinking about this so hard.

Yay fruit!

I'm very sensitive to touch—I detest being touched by people I don't like or have just met, and relish even the most incidental touches from people I do like—synn and thewlisian_afer know what I'm talking about—and have been starved for it for a long time. The technician pressing her hand and the handpiece over warm gel just under my ribs and on my side in slow sweeps for 20 minutes was oddly comforting.

I always find that the more deeply personal a reaction someone describes, the more likely other people are to say, "Oh, yeah, me, too!" This is just like me - down to my enjoyment of the ultrasound I had a few years ago (for the same complaint, incidentally), which I don't think I've ever told anyone.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Hellooo! I was starting to wonder if you guys were okay over there.

the more deeply personal a reaction someone describes, the more likely other people are to say, "Oh, yeah, me, too!"

I've found the same thing, and the community here is wonderfully supportive and confidence-boosting, yet it is still difficult to write about very personal things in a public space like this instead of in a journal that no-one will read but me, you know? Even if they're fandom-related; I keep saying that one day, one day, I'll do a post about bondage or personal kinks or how to research realistic sex descriptions or something.

So -- you too, huh? Even the test. Cool. I didn't know that. (I hope everything turned out okay.)

are there really STOCK photos of gay cowboys?

Yep! Although I think she meant "no guys in cowboy hats/boots/denim shirts who look at all like they might be anglin' for other cowboys rather than the women we're paid to aesthetically enhance."