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A Song And A Snack Can Turn Any Moment Into An Occasion
I hope you all had wonderful holidays.
Mine were good, though very busy. I had to weeks off work, most of which were spent visiting or having family over, preparing and celebrating birthdays, attending a wake, running errands, cleaning the house, preparing food for and having a big New Year’s Eve party, cleaning up that mess and entertaining my nephew – he’s two now and always fun to play with.
I also managed to read all the Gusmas drabbles and start on the gift exchange fics – all wonderful works so far, my thanks and compliments to everyone who participated.
So how are you all?
First of all, a belated Happy Birthday to
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court1429! I hope you had a wonderful day! I obviously suck at keeping with my resolutions regarding fandom, I still don't participate nearly enough. I did some work on that gap filler though - it turned into a kind of What If, which would have been ok, but I didn't like any of my attempts at the transition, so I started procrastinating, got distracted by a long fic that someone was looking for on LJ, and then my vacation time was up already. I managed to post a couple of older fics to Archive Of Our Own, so that's something at least.
Things at work are a little slow at the moment, but after all the stress around the end of last year, we can use the extra time for archiving and stuff. I haven't been signed up for that many hours at my part time job either lately, so I'm keeping it for now. I also managed to get re-tested for plasma donation eligibility; if everything goes well I have my first appointment in a couple of weeks. Hopefully I'll stick to it for a little longer this time around.
My dance group keeps me pretty busy these days. We're designing new business cards and flyers (trying to get everyone together for the photo shoots...), and we're practicing three new dances for which we need costumes, so we're also trying to get booked for more performances so that we can pay for the fabrics and then it will be at least a couple of weekends of sewing... There's also a class of Advertising for Clubs starting at the local night school for which a couple of us signed up.
How are you all?
Happy New Year Everyone!
I hope you all had happy holidays and wish you a joyous, healthy and prosperous 2011.
My resolutions for 2010 were finding a better job, losing some weight, and being less of a lurker around here. I accomplished the first two and started out ok on the third as well, actually commenting when I liked something, participating in a game or two, and even writing a story myself. But suddenly having a full time job without quitting the part time job I already had, or my Spanish class, or my dancing group, or spending time with my nephew, or organizing the Christmas pageant (I still don't know how that turned from complete chaos up until the 23. to perfectly alright on Christmas Eve) kind of took away from my online time... my 'read later' folder exploded, I barely skim my friends page every couple of days and I don't think I commented on anything at all since July.
So my resolutions for 2011 are to finally quit my part time job, re-incorporate plasma donation into my schedule, somehow keep up with the Spanish despite the class not being continued after the end of January, go to the swimming pool/sauna somewhat regularly, and, again, PARTICIPATE MORE. And find a way to trick my muse into showing up even if I don't have ten times the time I actually need to write something. Maybe then I'll manage a drabble for next year's Gusmas challenge. (I loved what I've read of this year's so far, and I WILL comment on my favorites, damn it!)
Tomorrow I have to run some errands and then I will stare at what I've already written for that story I promised and hope I get back into it. (Anyone interested in doing a quick beta
I just found a full time job on top of my part time job and what feels like 3000 hobbies and other obligations, so I've been pretty busy these past few months. How is it December already? I was planning on giving my sister a family picture of my nephew's first Christmas (is he really 16 months old already? Well, he's definitely still the cutest thing ever.), but going through the photos I realized that there is not one I really like - our Christmas tree was exceptionally ugly last year - and I have no clue where to start. Any of you talented graphics people in the mood to help me out? In exchange for a fic that will probably be ready in time for, uh, Easter?
Speaking of fic, there were two ideas I was playing with before all my free time disappeared - one is rather short, episode related, and I have it pretty much mapped out in my head. I should be able to actually write it down in the week I have off after the holidays. The other is more complicated - I had the idea way back for the milestones challenge, did a little research, settled on an approximate time frame, but never got around to watching the relevant episodes to figure out where it would fit best. I still asked around some more and realized that there would be a lot less interaction required than I expected, so I considered extending the story line and/or changing the focus... that one will probably never see the light of day.
Anyway... the new job is great. It's at a rather small firm exporting spare parts for construction machinery, mostly to Africa. I'm finally getting to use my English in real life, and I'm getting along with my colleagues as well. I'm still on probation until the end of the year, but I think it's working out fine for both sides.
How are you all? Is the weather in your corner of the world as winterly as it is here?
Happy Wednesday everyone!
I had a vague idea for a fic, but got stuck in the research. It concerns second parent adoption; I found some basics, but I still have questions. Maybe it's just that my search terms suck, so is there someone who could point me to a good source? Or maybe answer some of these:
As the biological parent giving away your rights, can you sign them over to a specific person or do you have to give them up unconditionally? Could you have something about visitation in there, too? And what happens after you signed? I read that there's a cooling off period (how long is that in Pennsylvania?) and then you can register it at court (how does that work exactly?) and then it's final and the non-biological parent can proceed with the adoption. Is that true?
So... they fill out the application and go through the background check and possibly home study, right? Could that be done beforehand, too? I mean Mel and Linds were always planning for Mel to adopt Gus from the start, could they have had those papers and other requirements ready before Gus' birth with just the termination of Brian's parental rights still missing?
So once they have everything together there's a hearing set up in which the adoption has to be approved by a judge and made official, right? Would Brian have to attend that hearing? Would things like visitation or some kind of guardianship rights (for example in case Gus gets sick while with Brian) come up there? And what would be the time frame, assuming they had everything else ready by the time Brian signed over his rights?
I really appreciate any input at all.
Just a little snippet I wrote a couple of years ago and still haven't come up with a title for... set in episode 2.08, after Brian discovers that Justin kissed the virgin.
Happy Birthday frantic_quest!
I wish you a wonderful day!
In honor of Poetry Month I decided to post this poem, the first of very few I ever spontaneously liked and related to. Sorry it's in German.
Der Ort
Wo ich über Zäune kletterte,
Die Taschen voller Kirschen;
Wo ich Schätze suchte,
Kühle Kiesel mit den Adern der Erde,
Mehlfesseln fürs Blasrohr aus Holunder,
Schneckenhäuser, grüne Scherben, blaue;
Wo ich den jungen Vogel begrub
Hinterm Regenfass,
Drei Sprünge über sein Grab,
Damit er mich höre;
Wo ich Winnetou war,
Wo ich Sherlock Holmes war,
Wo ich am Bach saß
Und auf den Wassermann wartete,
Wo ich die Stichlinge im Bach für Hechte hielt,
Eine Sonnenfinsternis für den Weltuntergang,
Den nächsten Morgen für ein Wunder;
Wo ich die erste Zigarette rauchte mit zwölf
Im Fahrradschuppen vor der Schule
An einem todlangweiligen Nachmittag,
Ich machte zwei kurze Züge und hatte genug,
Wo das Hochwasser stieg und stieg,
Und der Hund an der Kette an seiner Hütte
Tat mir so leid, aber jemand schnappte mich
Gerade noch am Hosenboden;
Wo ich einen Mann kannte, der Blut spuckte;
Wo die Hühner Hubschrauber waren,
Nachts lag der Startknüppel unter dem Bett;
Wo die Wiesen dottergelb waren im Mai,
Wo es schön war,
Wo ich klein war,
Und dann auf einmal groß,
Wo jetzt eine alte Frau wohnt,
Die schlechte Augen hat und gut sieht,
Wenn die Kinder ihren Kirschbaum plündern,
Und sie verscheucht sie wie Amseln,
Und ruft sie alle mit meinem Namen.
Bernd Jentzsch
I saw a birth announcement in the paper today for for a baby named Taylor Brian. (Neither of these is a common name in Germany.)
That was all. Have a good week!
Title: Waffles
Written By:
darlaisabelleTimeline: 4.08
Theme or Prompt: Hurt/Comfort
Author's Notes: This was supposed to be a gapfiller for 4.08 exploring Justin’s reaction to overhearing the phone message, but it got away from me and turned AU from there. Hope you like it anyway.
Originally written for the "Second Chance Challenge 2" over at
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qaf_challenges.Many thanks to my beta
secretsolitaire for making this fic what it is and for coming up with the title!( Read Waffles )