... Arc en Ciel...

http://www.walkingtheplank.org/archive/viewstory.php?sid=3234

We had tried, but not even magic could stop the rising flood. Instead, we'd turned to rescuing those we could, joining the wizards and Muggles traversing the streets of the ward in boats, pontoons, any damn thing that could float. We pulled people from rooftops, from attics, from damned trees, until the soldiers arrived finally and sent us away.

http://www.walkingtheplank.org/archive/viewstory.php?sid=3233

The State Security Forces come not in the middle of a dark night as one might expect, but on a bright, sunshiny Sunday morning just after the sausages are set on the kitchen table.

http://www.walkingtheplank.org/archive/viewstory.php?sid=3247

From the private journal of John. H. Watson MD; not intended for publication. Being an account of the strange case of the Fourth Deathly Hallow; in which Dr John H. Watson and Mr Sherlock Holmes save a life, discover the true secret of Professor Moriarty, unravel a time loop or two, encounter a femme fatale, imbibe potions, break into and out of a wizarding mansion, hide in a male brothel, go shopping, track down a magical artefact, almost attend a ritual sacrifice, fail to be Obliviated and totally ignore the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy of 1692, all in the company of a lank-haired, irascible but secretly besotted schoolmaster, a bemused aristocrat and an increasingly perceptive and enamoured young hero.

http://www.walkingtheplank.org/archive/viewstory.php?sid=3225

Belonging and deserving, needing and wanting—desires of the human heart that Severus and Harry must face when they're forced to the little village of Lochdubh to settle a very late codicil of Albus Dumbledore's will.

Title: At Spell's End
Author: Leela (leela_cat)
Pairing: Snape/Harry
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~9,500
Summary: After killing Voldemort, Harry discovers that Dumbledore kept one last secret. And this one requires him to make a decision that affects everything.
Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine. I'm not making any money from them or this story.
Highlight for Warnings: *EWE, considerations of gender and identity*
Beta(s): eeyore9990, the_minx_17, batdina
A/N: This isn't a story that I ever considered writing, until I was called on to answer iulia_linnea's ad for fall_fantasia. I tell it with much love and respect for those, both friends and strangers, who deal with these issues every day.


Click to read At Spell's End on my IJ

The music awards:

Shakira has women ninjas!

Another week gone by. November was dragging for the first few weeks, but seems to have picked up speed as we enter the final week. I don't know if I'm happy about that or not. Although, it does mean that there's only FOUR DAYS TILL THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING!!! And Kohl's and Penny's already have their adds online. It's all very exciting.

( Baking Photos! )

So that was my week. I'm ready to stay home and bake all day. Anyone want to go in for half a bakery? :)

bulletpoints!

- Although I managed surprisingly well on cards last year, there's no way I'm going to manage this year. I'm slightly bummed about this, but I think I'll just resolve to send more random letters throughout the year as that's way more fun to receive.

- I made adorable cupcakes at work again. I wish I had an excuse to make them at home, or a whole lot more people to foist them off on.

- The last two episodes of Fringe made me all excited and giddy, even with a brief Not Sure If Want moment in there. I need to get over my tendency to want to fit things neatly in canon and just write the smushy porn that I want to write.

- There is absolutely no way to reply to an anon thread with you as the subject without a) being a dick, b) encouraging the drama, and c) being a dick. I replied anyway.

- There is absolutely no way to blog/tweet/mention replying to an anon thread with you as the subject without encouraging the drama and being a bit of a dick, but it made me laugh. Oh, people.

- I had this big complicated adventure dream with JDM in it last night. It was awesome. Then I had to get up and go to work, which was less awesome, even though our new brunch cook made me Huevos for breakfast.

- Speaking of our new cook, she's been teaching J how to make stuff. Including this awesome grilled tomato salsa which is downstairs right now, calling to me. She's the best.

- I severely need a nap, but if I sleep now I'll wake up at the time which I should be going to bed. Conflict.

Title: Dangerous
Author: alisanne
Pairing: Neville Longbottom/Bill Weasley, Kingsley Shacklebolt/Charlie Weasley, Severus Snape/Harry Potter
Word Count: 400
Rating: R
Warnings: Everyone is GAY! *g*
Beta: sevfan
A/N: Written for angela_snape, who successfully guessed which story was mine in the last week of the snarry_ldws competition. Her request: Neville/Bill, Kingsley/Charlie, Severus/Harry, with the prompt: applause.
Disclaimer: The characters contained herein are not mine. No money is being made from this fiction, which is presented for entertainment purposes only.

( Dangerous )

I need help! I plan on writing a grand and glorious teacher!au fic for Merlin. My question is this: what is the hierarchy in the school staff in public education in the UK?

For example in public education in the US we have: support staff, special education, general education teachers, vice principal, principal, superintendent and other administrators, school board and upward into the state and national government.

I have attempted Googlefu to no good results.

Anyone know?

Lots of love,
Me

Good news on the work front: My tutoring job is going to give me 16 hours a week as of Dec. 1, which is great. It's an improvement.

The pay rate is good, and it gives me the required experience I need for teaching. (90 hours is the magic number. I'll have it by the end of December. Then I need a year of school for the teaching certificate.)

Unfortunately, it's not quite enough to live off of.

I don't have a car in car-dependent Maryland, so I'm having to ask "mommy" for rides to work, to interviews. I have all the time in the world to write -- yet can't find the space because I have to write around other people's schedules.

It's been four months and I'm getting the feeling she's burned out. As am I.

I want my life back.



Quantifying a life.

( When I drove across country to Seattle in 1996, I had a car. )

Aside from the degrees, how did I end up with less than when I started?

Mousie report.

Some of you may recall this post wherein a family of mouse babies took up residence in one of my fleece jackets (in a box that happens to be outdoors). I discovered this when I pulled my jacket out of the box, scattering mouse infants everywhere. I removed my other jackets, packed the box with newspaper, and used newsprint to scoop the littles back in the box.

A week later I discovered I'd missed four mouse babies, who'd fallen into a box I took inside. Noooo....

Then the temperature dropped and I thought the outdoor mousies were history.

Three weeks later ...

I'm happy to report that the mouse babies survived, and have moved on. But the nest is clearly there, and there are no apparent corpses.

Proof of life: the fleece jacket was not so lucky, sacrificed to the cause. The Mousies chewed a few holes.

Unless Rainy Pass can fix it.

In the form of a list!

• Deadline to sign up for a holiday card from me is December 7 -- that's when the art supply place claims it will deliver my blank cards, heh.


• I launched my fine art site and totally forgot to tell y'all -- Antemortem Arts is open, and I've even put stuff in my Etsy shop.


• I have exactly 3 pieces of fan art left to do, and then those commitments are fulfilled. Since they're all due for Xmas (2 HP Holiday Card Exchange cards, and my own HP Xmas card), I'll be all done by the end of the year. Weird!


• I found betas for accioslash's LLM fic, and it will be posting in santas_lap along with the Sirius/Neville I still have to finish, oops.


• I've been making some quiet writing progress on various things, including a certain person's incredibly belated prize fic (one more scene and it's done!), a chapter of the no-longer-New Thing that I probably ought to post to swtalmnd_nano, and little dribs and drabs to my other three WiPs that aren't for any fest or person or anything.


• Coconut Cocoa Tea ftw.

People always ask me about Buddhism ... and I'm caught flat-footed. You should ask a good Buddhist!

Well we're in luck. And online, too.

Tulku Orgyen has offered to help anyone with any questions about Buddhism: http://twitter.com/TulkuOgyen

Retweet, tweeters.

And thank you, Tulku Orgyen, for letting me pass the buck.

The Olympics are coming! The Olympics are coming!

If you're like me (in years past) you probably tune in to these winter sports, oh, once every four years. You get a general sense of who the favorites are from the announcers and interviews, roll your eyes at the inspirational life story clips, and root for the home team.

Now you don't have to be in the dark. You can be knowledgeable long before the Olympics hit.

At least about figure skating. (Everyone, feel free to correct me. I'm not an expert, I've just been following skating to the best of my ability for a couple years.)

Right now the horse race is on. It's the Grand Prix. As we speak, world class skaters are competing in a series of competitions Russia, France, Canada, the U.S., Japan, and er, I think elsewhere. Right now they're trying to earn points to get to the Grand Prix final -- and prove themselves worthy of the Olympic teams.

You see, last March at the World Championships each country won the number of slots they'd have at the Olympics based on how their skaters did. (The max is three.) China was very disappointed to not win any for men's figure skating. In a real shocker, the U.S. women's figure skating only scored two slots as our current National champ fell apart.

But our men are doing fab. Evan Lysacek won the gold at Worlds and we have a "deep field," namely, many guys running neck and neck for the same titles.

Let's have a look at our boys.

The Americans.


The ever-hot gentleman, Evan Lysacek. (The belt buckle is Batman, with cable and bat-grappling hook.)

( Evan has the quad. He has the fire. He's a skater who starts pouring it out in the last 30 seconds of his performance.... )

Finally, there's Mabanoozerabadahblbrghf. Graceful, fluid, fun to watch. I don't know if he'll keep moving up, he's still inconsistent. But he has a musical sense that makes him figure skating eye candy.



Only three will make it to the Olympics.

Which three? We'll know at Nationals in Spokane, January 2010.


Tomorrow: those other guys, yeah, them foreigners.

Title: Owned
Rating: Adult
Summary: The Malfoys have always been owned by the Potters. HP/DM. Deathly Hallows compliant although the epilogue is ignored.
Warnings: Slavery, dominance/submission, slash, angst, romance. Since this story spins off of canon, Harry's in a relationship with Ginny when we begin.
Disclaimer: Based on JK Rowling's Harry Potter works, the full canon except the DH epilogue. No infringement intended and not for profit.
Feedback: Yes, please.


---- This story is based on a prompt provided by lothy.
---- Latin incantation and translation provided by fabula_rasa.
---- Owned banner art by quill_lumos.
---- Thanks to triomakesmehot, quill_lumos, hogwartshoney and clauclauclaudia for the feedback and valuable comments.

( Continue Reading )

Ok, this is weird, old, and not a little twisted but I just rewatched scenes from the 'Horsemen' episodes on Youtube...

You out there who once dabbled in 'Highlander' - ever come across fic pairing Kronos and Richie? I've been wanting this ever since Kronos turned up, and there seems to be *nothing* out there I can find, and it's just a crime against darkfic!

Halp!?!

Title: Boggart
Author: alisanne
Pairing: Neville Longbottom/Surprise!
Word Count: 100
Rating: PG
Warnings: Silliness, AU
Beta: sevfan
Challenge: Written for neville100's prompt #96: Boggart
Disclaimer: The characters contained herein are not mine. No money is being made from this fiction, which is presented for entertainment purposes only.
A/N: First time with this pairing, be gentle. ;)

( Boggart )

Ladies, I need your collective genius:

Help me finish this limerick and there is a drawble in it for you!

Her bio to quote    
(insert awesome line here)      

( WriSoMiFu Day 22 - Part 2 Recs You Might Not Expect From Me  )