Streets are filled with --

Strange thought blurb expose times! :D In lieu of fic, because my brain works funny when adjusting to new schedules.

Just came back from work a few hours ago; days go by a lot faster when you've got sleep on your side. But then a thought floated by: why do days at work crawl so much more than days at school did for me?

( Ergo the theory that there obviously needs to be things to be destroyed before anything is interesting )

Learning is huge. It's putting yourself up against the ruler of the brightest minds and seeing how you measure up. It scares the shit out of me: it makes me fight for every idea I don't understand, for every concept that could be more, for something that pushes through the huge bulk of an entire race's collective inquiry, the one thing that allows us the lives we lead. To learn that is to fight for your life, tearing screaming and yelling through the blackness of confusion and to come out the other side better equipped and glad to be alive.

Work isn't the same. Work isn't harder. Work's more tiring, because I don't love it at the moment; I know, in the way that I guess we all know at the bottom of our hearts, that this job isn't in the field that I'd be glad to fall in battle in, wielding Blackberries and a 12-hour day as armour. There's nothing to fight in a "job": nothing but boredom and the thought of the end of the day. No obstacle to tear down en route to something greater, no end goal to surge towards with the intensity of rightness that makes what the greatest and worst men and women of the real and fictional worlds what they were. Which is the stuff that inspires, at the end of the day. How did Schindler save those lives? How were orders given to drop the Plate on a seventh of the city of Midgar? Did Julius Caesar sleep well at night? Or did Marc Antony, before Shakespeare woke from his dream to write the one of the greatest rhetoric speeches in the English language? How many hours did Lucifer spend planning his fall? What went on in the heads of the men writing God? Would Bruce Wayne have had any sense of justice as a policeman?


So I'll always keep looking for the next human being, the next book, the next fic, the next game, the next line, the next song, that makes me feel truly stupid inside. Since -- To burn through and gouge out the logic of the past, or to rebuild and rip up the sky of the future. There's some worth in doing that while a human is alive.


(To this song! Daft Punk - Harder Better Faster Stronger

Work it harder make it better
do it faster makes us stronger
more than ever hour after
our work is never over)

AND THAT IS ALL OF YOUR STRANGE AND THOUGHTFUL K FOR THE WEEK. Coming next post: fic once more! With hope. And some effort.

Where I realise what a ridiculously lucky person I am to have the flisters that I do.

As I sat up yesterday in the ridiculous bowels of the night writing the next bit of nasdack, I read through what ellnyx had written before me and felt truly, truly overwhelmed because Nyx writes so damned good that all I want today is to try to be even half as impact-worthy in my parts. Or to be half as good a friend, especially when it's 1 am on a work night and K is a bad/sad invisible machine. ♥

And that's on top of the wonderful and amazing pere_chan, whom I spoke to over Skype for the first time yesterday. It's one of the best feelings in the world when you pick up the phone (uh, mic), call someone, and feel 0 awkwardness. And then proceed to spend 3 hours talking about either tentacles, race, and how to make Dick not look like a ho. ♥

If the universe had more space/time/spacetime, I'd zoom over and save dnatio_memoriae from drowning in schoolwork, because D, too, is full of :D and does not deserve to be going "AUGH!" Thank you, man, for commenting all the time and taking time out to ask if I'm okay even as the jaws of your proposal yawn wide to swallow you whole.

To shadowwaker, who has been the unfortunate victim of my brainless sickness + 2am brain, thank you for coming out and chatting with me! :D I am notoriously bad at being chatty, but you remind me how much fun it is to step outside of my Circle of Shy (TM). It blows my mind how many languages you speak and how cool it is to just giggle and fangirl over a German Rufus whospeaksreallyfastandamazingly. ♥ And fic! And squishy.

white_jenna talked to and with me way before so many people, and was one of the first to break me into the habit, for which I am eternally grateful. ♥ Hehe, also, you are the bestest person to linkspam squeeish things with, as you amazingly always manage to spread it out to everyone else! :D

regicidaldwarf, I DO LOVE OUR CHAT, and our mumbly ramblings about our daily lives and Who and university and just life. It's something that reminds me how ?!?! lucky I am to be able to flail around with someone so far away. \o ♥

charlie_d_blue, my pimp, my most lovely pimp: without you, I wouldn't have known the joys of flailing in an outright CAPSLOCK flail way. You are exactly my age and it is fucking fantastic because you are awesome, five times more mature than me, have the brains of a GENIUS, and make me want to smile and smile and smile and then write porn. Or watch Leverage. I OWE YOU A CARD.

two_if_by_sea - I know I never quite comment on your posts 0.00005 as much as I should, but let me say that your posts always make me grin and go oooooh over your photographs and the everyday things. :D Your comments and pimping are so \o \o \o that I don't even have words, I must make do with one-armed pictorial flailing. \o \o \o

evercourant, baby, you are so insane that I want to keep you on my shelf and hug you all the time and and and :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD Your mad laughter through fic and my Psychotic Dream Sequences warms my cold, dream-wearied heart.

knightlineninja, I don't know if you're going to read this, BUT I LOVE THE KNIGHT, and hope that work has not swallowed you. TEA! It will be forthcoming!

scheherezhad, I still owe you. *g* You're amazingly generous, thank you so much for doing up the Jaynehat for me - I was just so flabbergasted when you offered, and it sits on my bed, guarding one of my bedposts from the glaring light of day at all times. ♥

aikonamika, seeing your comments always makes me smile. :D In spite of the fics I write sometimes having 0 overlap with the things you're interested in, you're still here, which brings a huge glow to my heart. :D

raikomotomiya, when you commented on Batfic I nearly DIED OF GLEE, and then you you you did fanart and and and it is amazing and I love seeing the snippets and you are SO :D INDUCING, YOU KNOW THAT? :D

deepad, reading your posts always makes me think and be a better person. You're so much more conscious and linked to the world around you than many others, and you're always eloquent in the ways you think and phrase the way you think. ♥ Sometimes it's intimidating, because I feel like I am a lowly brainless ant in comparison, but I still love reading your posts and comments, and learning by proxy how to be more aware, and be more cool about the way different people feel, think and operate. ♥

glass_icarus, YOU ARE SO FULL OF WIN. Thank you so much for guiding my eggchick brain around its flaily university thoughts - without you I'd be a million times as anxious. It is so unbelievably cool to think I'll be able to meet up with you soon, and I look forward to it WITH GREAT ANTICIPATION. Thank you for reading and for commenting on my things, and for articulating the way you did on my thinky-thoughts post in ways I couldn't have ever imagined articulating myself. ♥

guingel, your posts on Bible readings and on your huge amazing life? Always a win. Again, I am a horrible non-commenty-non-commenter, but it's still supremely awesome to go through the flist and see bits about cons and life. ♥ ♥ Plus, having discussions with you always makes me think, for which my rotting brain is ever grateful.

voksen. I JUST CAPSLOCK RIGHT AT YOU. For the commentspam, the BRAINSPAM, the SCHULDIG ICON OF DOOM, and all the back-and-forth and FOOD and mmmmm and here I'm going to just roll around in glee. :D

autumn_belias, dude, you care so much about when I stay up and are always telling me to look after myself - ♥, Sam, seriously. I'm glad that Yuletide stuck us together in the same chat, because elsewise I'd never have an awesome person to flop around with and destroy biology notes with. 8D

mjules, YOU REC THE MOST AMAZING THINGS. Heeee, and and and The Left Hand of Darkness, man. That's enough to make me weep with gratefulness at meeting you in the wide stream of the interwebs.

numinicuous, from the first moment on #yulechat, you have been :D :D :D and so damned smart and woah multitasking, and that has never changed, SO PLEASE NEVER CHANGE. Also, I frequently want to elope with your icons. 8D

sharaith, you come from such a different place and experience than me, and that humbles me so, so much. ♥ I love reading your posts, and am so :D that you find time out to comment on the things I post about. ♥!



*PANTS* Okay, I never quite intended to write such a long list, but NOW THAT I HAVE, I am deathly afraid that I have missed someone out - if I have, HIT ME, because my brain is still operating on a lot of ?????? and and and *flop* I have probably used the word "awesome" and "amazing" too many times today.

But in short - ♥ I look at the people I've met here on this LJ, how different and similar we all are, and it's a moment of gladness: I have lived to see this!

Lots of things are churning in the ficbin, but nothing's ready to be shown to the big bad world yet. \o A couple of teasers/random thoughts:

Final Fantasy VII: Restorations III

Every time I embark upon a multiparter, my first thought is you are such a lazy bastard and then the next is oh my god what have you got yourself into now? It's kind of freaky that Restorations, in spite of being slow and short and snail-like, has evolved into a new category of STOP OH GOD WHAT ARE YOU DOING. Next up: reverse-colonialisation, Reeve being a better politician than the whole world combined, Rufus getting his ass summarily handed to him by the irony gods, Tseng v. Past v. Present, and Wutai Existing For Us To Make Stuff Up About It.

Batfic: pauper!AU

1. Dick and Bruce argue for great profit
   
2. Why does this sound like every other Batfic in the universe?
   
3. Oh, and Harvey Dent.

Gundam Wing

Zechs/Treize, because I NEED TO WRITE THIS SO BAD. I've this bad feeling that I'm going to need 8 hours in front of my episodes with a notepad and a few flowcharts before I get to writing it with any measure of confidence, though. But the nature of prediction! The ETERNITY OF FRIENDSHIP. Treize's blatant inability to keep his hands to himself! Zechs versus magnanimity versus monogamy! \o/!!

Antique Bakery

I am so stalled on this one, but Tachibana needs to go get (way)laid, courtesy of voksen and the good nation of Korea.

Vassalord

This needs a pimp post all on its own. Suffice to say: vampires (in a good way), no clear seme/uke relationship, no clear BL, NANAO CHRONO, mindfuckery on a level that I only wish I could emulate, and lots and lots and lots and lots of fun.

Here, go read scans, or head to ivory_and_horn's IJ pimp post.


Series I've finished ploughing my way through sans mercy or humility watching:

x Peacemaker Kurogane (uh, what)
x Kuroshitsuji (I like Sebastian's clothes better than I like the plot)

Any recs, guys? :D? Anything? Good historical stuff would totally rock my boat.



Also, I am pimping out this course that shadowwaker is doing. Please do head to this post if you want to sign up! I'll leave the objectives under a cut, but there are loads more details on that post than there are here, so please do go check it out. ♥

( Anyone up for Creative Writing-ness? )

Language altered to appear suitably Annoyed (R) and Irascible (TM); this post bears only minimal resemblance to members of the public that may or may not be either living and/or dead. I swear.

28/1: Enumerated List of Bureaucratic Stupidity

1. To the American Banking system (and its slew of derivatives): I do not see the need or purpose in your sending my father and myself endless streams of correspondence. I do not need additional paperwork regarding anything to make me feel more self-important about the amount of money this family has deposited in your incredibly (pun fully intended, along with your 0.0000012% per month interest rate) and needlessly complex credit system, and my father is considerably jaded as-is and does not want to be informed, by means of (to date) 7 formal letters, 3 brochures and however many bits and pieces of paper marauding as check(que)books and/or advertisements, that you are Fully Aware of where his money is at any and all times. Rather, I'd be obliged if you left me with less drivel, and more information regarding parts of my account that I should've been informed of beforehand, id est: the drawing limit on my debit card, the fact that said debit card cannot be used for online transactions, and the fact that your company - against all standards of common sense and integrity and the ability to read in sequential lines - managed to not only misspell my name but also managed to rearrange my mailing address such that the second line became the first and the first line became invention. Thank god for postal codes.
   
   
2. To the paper pushers with whom I am communicating in order to secure simple, no-frills interviews and tours of your facilities: I plead with you never to reply to emails with the phrase (verbatim:) "[i]n regards to the unformal meetings". I weep for you, your colleagues, and whoever it is that has to read your reports on a regular basis, Mms. "Manager of International Relations".
   
   
3. To the makers of such movies as Troy: mother of Hades, what are you on, people? I could've forgiven Alexander its woes due to the fact that its casting was doomed to begin with, but Troy? Troy? Troy? One would think that Mssr. Pitt, having acted as a vampire and a gambler and a psychopath and a de-aging-re-aging man, would be able to brush his neatly evolved American accent to one corner and do better than scream (verbatim:) "IMMORTALITY!!!!!! TAKE IT!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S YOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", punctuation not exaggerated. Furthermore, Patroclus. If actual further elaboration is necessary: what of the ardent feminisation, and then the constant implications of "cousin", and then the fact that he - and Mssr. Bloom - served only to make Mssrs. Pitt, Bana and Bean seem muscular and manly in comparison? I decline to comment on the bad theatrical execution, the constant (and annoying) soundtrack, and the fact that the depicted Paris could be broken thus by kicking any particularly adorable puppy somewhere in his vicinity.
   
   
4. To my love, gmail: I trust you. Please cease being slovenly; I have work to do.

*g* Okay, I have to stop, otherwise I think my brain will fall apart. But, yes, today has been an interesting day: for one, I've rediscovered the effects of a cup of coffee. Maybe it's just the fact that I'd spent around 9 years of my life getting only four or six hours of sleep per night and then slogging the rest of the day, but I'd never been affected by coffee until a few months ago. Tragedy! For then I could not drink it ere sleeping. I thought that I'd acquired some strange infection of the lymph. Truefact: after sleeping only 2 hours last night and then braving the roads (thankfully dead: I guess everyone's still hung over) on my bicycle, drinking a flat white did nothing more than restore me to humanity, as opposed to pushing me over the edge into Hyped Up Psycholand. Profit!

Additionally: if you live in the Australasian continent and are on my flist, there's a pretty high chance you're getting something in the mail sometime during the next 4-6 days. *BEAM*

Also: note to self, write creepy random boring piece about how the roads were empty. ish.

Thus is my boring life. *sets to writing Tsengfic at last*

[edit] Ended up updating the downingjones section of nasdack; essentially: hell.

[edit] I think I'm going to sit here and stare at AIM for a while, so if anyone wants to catch me in my in between-caffeine-dosage lull, go 'head.

From Chris Baty, but down the memesheep line of puella_nerdii, mithrigil and sister_coyote:

"Before you sit down to write a novel, you make a list of everything you love to see in novels. When you write your own novel, you should put the stuff from your list in there. Then you should make a second list of everything you hate to see in novels. When you write your own novel, you should make sure none of the stuff from that second list creeps in when you’re tired."

( Things/tropes/stuff I love )

( Things/tropes/stuff I dislike* )

\o\

( And a couple of my own quirks, semi-explained! )

You know, they say fandom is good for a lot of things. Like learning more about yourself by providing you a safe playground with friendly people who don't usually discriminate. Like bridging all the gaps of race and age and social status and sexuality.

Tonight, I will give you something more profound. I give you eye candy.

Doesn't matter if you don't read DC comics. Because, after you click this cut, you will read DC comics. Dick Grayson isn't just Robin/son of Batman/Batman's psychotically cheerful and brilliant ward, he's also

a) dressed way too tightly
b) capable and/or likely to have/had sleep/slept with any/all character(s) he encounters
c) probably canonically done b)
d) far more able to stand his own ground than you can imagine

The last pimp post had Dick being all wibbly. Bigger brother. Filial son. Cheerful impish boyfriend.

Today we present you with:

Angry resolute asskicker Dick!



p.s that's his other brother, all villain-like and evil and stuff.



Amongst other things! Cut is image heavy.

( Hellllllo, Dick. )

More conventionally, I've packed together Gotham Knights #8 - #11 for anyone who wants a nice, clean introduction to Batman, Nightwing, Robin and Alfred. The Batfamily is beautiful. And brilliant and tasty.

[edit] ( Because you can never have enough brotherly love: )

Then there's Gotham Knights #14, which is nothing but Dick talking to Bruce. Believe me when I say that this is worth your time.

All .cbr/cbz files are really just nicely named .rar/zip files, made for easy reading using CDisplay. Go Google and download this very tiny, small and excellent image display programme - it makes reading comics very, very easy.

Otherwise, you can just rename anything with a funny ending to a .rar or .zip and it will extract just fine.

Just decided to take a break today on the writing front; I'm so braindead from coming home, doing an exam and then rushing three challenge fics that I blew off a Springkink deadline. I think I'll feel guilty about that, but not until tomorrow morning. 8D

( Just a bit of meta-rambling about the last three months or so of fic )