A Brief Update

I am currently (actually) working on my Legendary pitch. I may or may not be taking momentary breaks to read some fanfiction, but that's alright. I won't have an internet connection until late Saturday (most likely) because I'm visiting Georgetown with my brother.

I got rejected from the New School, so I won't be attending there in the fall. I applied to Kingston University in London... I'd really like to get in there, but I really can't afford it, so it looks like I'll be going to Adelphi, which isn't a bad thing because I can get my MFA really cheap, save lots of money, work really hard, get a great GPA and then apply to Oxford and Cambridge for my PhD.

Any suggestions on how to make money? I've got the following options:
1. get published.
2. get awesome job (not in NYC, however, because metro costs just increased by heinous amounts)
3. prostitution.

I really am not fond of the prostitution idea.

In other, better news... the next Doctor Who special should be around Easter (yayayay!).
FURTHERMORE, guess who the actress who plays the 'companion' in the next special is played by? Michelle Ryan. Don't recognize the name? Well, she's Nimueh on Merlin. Yeah, my mind is blown. Thanks BBC for the incest. Because writing that massive fic of AWESOME wasn't going to be easy enough, you have to go and make it EASIER!

Dear BBC,
I love you, let me have your babies, or at least write serialized books based on your television series, all of which I think are AWESOME.
Hugs, Kisses and Naughty Thoughts,
Nicole

A brief hello

tis Jess.... and I'm in New Hampshire at the moment (wee!) .... very long drive yesterday, although not as bad as I had feared it would be (Jersey traffic is usually awful, and I was afraid of the GW bridge - but that wasn't bad at all either. silly bridge.)

So we're making fun plans to be geeky in Boston and stuff in the next few days and then its back to school on Sunday....when I get to see (at last!!!) if there is anything waiting for me in my mailbox... besides the letter from Ohio that they told me they'd be sending.... silly grad schools.

I don't really have much more to say - its been a pretty relaxing break (once I got home from Ohio, that is) ...although I haven't been getting as much work done as I could have, so the first week back may be... interesting. Maybe I'll get some of the reading done in the next few days since the boy tends to sleep in a lot longer than I do. (He got up first today, but that was just a weird quirk of fate.... and also possibly because I was absolutely exhausted... and my bed was much warmer than anywhere else this morning. *grin*)

Anyway...there's tea downstairs with my name on it, apparently. (Quite the civilized household.) So I'll be back later... possibly not until we're back on campus on Sunday, though.

Miss you too, Nicole!

MERLIN!WIN!!!!

I appear to be taking over this blog like whoah (Jess! I miss you!!), but I couldn't resist posting this AWESOME BIT OF NEWS.

NBC picked up Merlin in America and is going to be airing it starting June 21st.!!!!!!!!!(!!!!!)

Thank you NBC for fulfilling my Colin Morgan crush and my Merlin/Arthur love!

*HAPPY DANCES LIKE THE GREEN BROTHERS!*

Grad School!fail

I visited Adelphi today. They're the only grad school I've heard back from so far, and they're not TERRIBLE, but they're very clearly a step or two below Hamilton. I could get my MFA for like... $5,000... but I dunno if I really want to go there.

So, I decided to apply to Kingston University. In London. I just need to double check with my references that they're okay with the whole referencing me thing and then hit 'submit' and I'm ready to go (well, that and mailing transcripts and what not). I don't think I could afford Kingston, but whatever. I think I need a new start. On multiple levels.

I'm still drowning in work, but I am feeling more motivated to actually do it. Terrible anxiety attacks about Legendary pitches are no fun, let me tell you. And it doesn't help that certain people are being clingy and really, really just turning me off. As I said, it's time for a new start, methinks.

So, we'll see. I'd love to study in London for two years, but I really have no idea how I'd afford it, or if I'm actually going to get in (I don't know if the deadline has passed or not), or if it's even a particularly good school. I just want to get my MFA and then swan off to the UK for my PhD. I developed a life plan, and now I'm going to attempt to complete it.

I really need to make me some money first. Being broke really sucks.

Oh, Bugger

So, in an attempt to be productive and apply for writing contests, I started writing some short stories. Mostly, this is to avoid doing the Legendary Pitch write-up I need to do, which is absolutely terrifying me because I'm shy and I don't like speaking, especially not in public (in an attempt to make myself feel better, I plan on channeling Morgana during my pitch).

Anyway... short stories. Wanna know what I came up with? A story about Ophelia. From Hamlet. Essentially Hamlet fanfiction. There is something seriously wrong with me. This is absurd. *headdesk* And the sad thing is, I was inspired by just seeing my old Shakespeare textbook. And I guess it's not too bad, because Hamlet is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays (because everyone dies), but really self? REALLY!?! HAMLET FANFICTION?!!?

So, yes. I'm a pretty sad excuse for a human person at the moment. I also have to write a chapter of my novel, do that damn Legendary thing (*throws Uther!tantrum* DON'T WANNA!), read the English Patient (boo, depressing), write magazine articles for the frikkin Continental and do a myriad of other things, which isn't too bad, I guess, but I'm kind of drowning a bit. Worst of all, the only thing I've been doing lately is reading fanfiction. Dammit, Merlin! You have taken over my miiiiind!!!!

I'll go read the new Dresden Files instead.

Confusion!

Jess here... with some good news...and some confusion (hence the title).

So I'm back from Ohio... the interviews went well (apparently - I got my acceptance letter today - in .docx format that I had to forward to my sister (who has the new version of word) to open, save and send back. *rolls eyes and shakes fist in Microsoft's general direction*). So yeah - I can stop freaking out about not having a school to go to next year.... I guess.

Here's the problem. I got a weird vibe from Ohio. I mean, it was a great place, and a good program and all very nice people... but I'm not sure how much I would enjoy living and working there. They all tried very hard to make me feel welcome, but I didn't feel like it was quite as good a fit as Northwestern was, for all that Athens, OH was a lot more of my kind of town than Evanston, IL. *shrug*

So my conundrum is thus: if Northwestern doesn't offer me admission, do I want to take the sure option and just go to Ohio for the next five or so years... or do I want to do something else? I'm doubting all of my plans at this point - do I really want to go to grad school? Am I just using it to put off being in the real world for a few more years? Would that actually work? (I'll have to essentially be an adult at that point anyway - live on my own, and all that that entails... just without the superawfulscary job search for a little while.

*sigh* I may need to whip out the old pro/con list in the near future... if only so that I can get some actual sleep. (I feel your pain, Nicole...and my to-do list is nowhere near as hairy as yours.)

gar.

Sleep? What Sleep?

I thought this was Spring Break. There is no 'break' involved. I've been slightly (read: VERY!) overwhelmed with the amount of stuff I have to do.

The Epic List of Epic (aka: Things I Need to Do Instead of Reading FanFiction)*red means done
1. Babbitt Fellowship Application (pink for almost done)
2. Legendary Pitch
3. Writing Prize Short Story (purple for getting there)
4. Chapter Four of Harem of Droids
5. Job Applications
6. Lifeless Script (re-prioritized to end of April)
7. MFA Blog Contest Application (re-prioritized to May)
8. Random Schoolwork that needs tending to
9. Razor and Tie work that ALSO needs tending to
10.Cleaning my neighbor's yard for money
11.Epic Merlin/Doctor Who/NCIS/Dresden Files fic that I need to write because it won't leave me alone (and I kind of want to be your Easter present, Jess ;) [<-xkcd addressed this emoticon-in-parentheses issue, and I agree, it is a HUGE problem.])
12. Class Presentation (re-prioritized to when I actually care *read: the night before it's due)
13. Senior Fellowship Presentation (re-prioritized to after the Legendary pitch)
14. Sleep.
It's alarming where sleep has fallen on this list, especially considering that this list is for the next month. In fact, it's so alarming that I have a headache and really need to find caffeine. Immediately. On Saturday, I got the sketches for the five-page promo of Lifeless. They look great, and I'm really looking forward to the finished pages. I have to work on finding more money to fund an actual fun of the series, but I really should write the rest of the series first.

I thought that my Epic List of Epic was bad enough, but it's really difficult to concentrate when my life feels so upheaval-y. I don't think I'm going to be able to actually move out when I graduate, which is bumming me out to no end, I don't know how I feel exactly about my personal life (gah!), and I am not really enjoying being at home. Not to mention, I should go to the GYN to find out why my period has become elusive and mysterious, but I got a letter yesterday saying my health insurance is terminated. (*edit: apparently, I have health insurance, the company's just REAL DUMB.) FML.

Ugh, back to work. *goes to make tea*

Hope your trip to Ohio is AWESOME Jess!

Travelling = less than fun.

Jess here - from Athens, OH.... and I'm quite sleepy so this will be short and probably in list form.

1. I flew in from Philadelphia International Airport this afternoon. (so far, 6/6 for worst airport I've dealt with in the last three months. I'll let you know where it ranks in relation to Detroit on Tuesday, as I'll be there for about 40 minutes for a connecting flight home.)
2. I've got interviews and tours tomorrow at Ohio University - yay!
3. So far, Ohio is alright, in my opinion. The hour and a half drive here from the airport was really quite nice. It will be really pretty once things are greener.
4. I rented a car from the people at the airport (got a discount because my cousin is awesome and works for them. woot!) .... downside: the gave me a bright yellow two-door sports car-esque....thing. gah?!?! I don't do yellow! .... or fast cars. Fortunately, I had my mellow music with me, so I managed not to speed (I have no idea which of the multitude of buttons might be cruise control. I touched as little as possible.)
5. The girl who let me use her spare room for my visit is awesome. (and not just because she is letting me use her spare room....)
6. I'm all... cool and capable and travelling by myself and stuff.... but I don't really enjoy it.

Anyway - big day tomorrow. Bed time soon. I'll probably be bored to tears on Tuesday when I'm stuck in multiple airports for who knows how long. Expect something cracktastic from me then.

Acha ddygwyl.

Yesterday, I went into Manhattan for various reasons, including, but not limited to, the fact that my brother was on a high-school-aged Jeopardy-like local game show, and to go to Forbidden Planet and The Strand with the boy (who, upon reading this deemed that he is 'the man' as opposed to 'the boy'... and then, on second thought, said 'the man' makes him sound like a cop, and wants to be 'the legend' instead...).

1. The game show was shot on a set that vaguely looked like a porno.
2. Forbidden Planet was awesome in the fact that they had a) Doctor Who books b) Doctor Who action figures c) Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde action figures and d) lots of other really awesome geeky stuff. I love that place, and if I get into the New School, I will try to get a job there.
3. The Strand is always fun. Lots and lots of books. I got a book on how to speak Welsh so that I can get a job at the BBC. Clearly, it's a great plan.

So, today, me, two Mikes and two Alexs are heading out for adventures in the city. It should be amusing. I think we may go wiffle-ball it up in Van Cortlandt park in the Bronx. Woot.

In other news, my artist got sketches for my pages back, and I'm super super super excited, because they look awesome and pretty and slightly gorey. All I could ever want in one five-page book. I have to get back to him tomorrow with things I want done. Also, Jess, thank you for lending me Sunshine. It's soooo awesome. I got about halfway through on the train the other day and was particularly upset that the ride wasn't longer so I could finish reading it. :)

Also, someone needs to keep DrabbleQuest running. I am sad that I don't have any prompts :(.

5 Weird Things You Really Should Read

....and five more you should really just look at the titles of and think about reading if you're super interested.

...because I'm bored and procrastinating... again.... and wanted to make a list of all the weird things I've been finding on BBC news tonight. (Obviously, I need a new hobby, stat.)

1. The Healing Power of Sunlight
2. My Thoughts...to Your Thoughts...
3. Sausage-pony (you think I'm kidding, but I'm not)
4. Chilly Dog (this was a link from the above article - you really only have to see the title and the pictures...)
5. Solar Boxes Save Sticken Bats (the EcoGeek contribution)

Runners up... but winners in the awesome title contest:

1. "Sex smell lures 'vampire' to doom"
2. "Mircrowaves 'cook ballast aliens'"
3. "'Zombie worms' found off Sweden"
4. "'Dracula' fish shows baby teeth"
5. "Killer ladybird seen in Scotland" (ladybird is Brit-speak for ladybug, fyi)

Scotland!Fail

Greetings from Queens.
I just found out that I didn't get into the Scotland program thingy. Boo. Um. Yeah. That's my news at the moment. Apparently, part of the reason they didn't choose me was because I had 'a lot of other opportunities for my future.' Still, that doesn't mean I didn't want to go to Scotland for a year. *pout*

Definitely not as interesting as albinos in Tanzania being hunted down.

Heading out to go see Watchmen now.

Yesterday in the news...

Exhausted!Dalek

Since I tried to be noble and give up reading fanfiction for Lent, I decided to try to do something a bit more personally helpful - namely, I wanted to get my head out of the sand and stop being an ostrich in regards to what the heck is going on in the world. My ever-accommodating boyfriend pointed me in the direction of BBC news, which he said might give a less biased picture, and cover more world news faithfully and broadly ... which is what I desperately need because basically I don't know anything (much less where anything is. geography!fail.)

I saved the links to a few of the more interesting articles I browsed yesterday whilst procrastinating, and will now share them with you (yep...still procrastinating... why do you ask?).


The first article, Indian meal starter lasts 50 years, just impressed me. Seven semi-illiterate Indian women started a cooperative business ("Lijjat papads") making poppadoms (a traditional meal starter in India). Their business flourished, and expanded amazingly, and this month they are celebrating their 50th year in business.

I have not often considered just how much the American (middle-class) culture differs from other countries'/classes'. Simply being able to read and write gives me access to so many opportunities I would not otherwise have. These women are doubly impressive to me for their strength and determination to be financially independent. They discuss in the article how much their situation gives them a sense of empowerment - they can make their own decisions (and have the money to back them up), and don't need to depend on the men in their lives to support them and their children.

Indeed the Lijjat women seem to have proved that success does not necessarily need money and infrastructure, as long as there is determination.

To relocate over to Africa for a while, the second article of note that I found discussed what can only be called a present-day witch-hunt in Tanzania. You may or may not know that people have been murdering albinos in that country over the past few years (BBC news tells me that 45 people have been killed since late 2007) - apparently so that witchdoctors can use their body parts in potions. Now, the government is asking people to fill out anonymous surveys in which they note who they suspect to be involved.

Having taken a witch-hunting course in history last semester, I can immediately think of a few things that could go very badly wrong with this plan. Some of them, the government of Tanzania has already thought of - and dismissed. For example, people could use this opportunity to rat out the neighbors they dislike or are currently feuding with. They don't actually offer a solution to this conundrum in the article. I'm not actually sure how one could weed out that kind of corruption of the system without going into each village and doing some serious investigating... which sort of defeats the purpose of having individuals name names in the first place.

But correspondents say it is not clear how effective the exercise will be in a society which believes in witchcraft and where confidence in the legal system is wearing thin.

That's an even scarier prospect. Because now we have all these people riled up and suspecting each other, believing that some of them can do awful things with magic if provoked, and not trusting that their government will solve the problem for them. Bad combination. I foresee truly awful results if people try to take matters into their own hands and disregard the legal system entirely. In Europe, during the height of the witch trials, the worst massacres happened in obscure locations where there was no oversight, no chance for appeal, and where all of the carefully formulated rules about how to find someone guilty just flew out the window (possibly on an imaginary broomstick).

It's a chilling prospect to think that we may revisit those events in this day and age in Tanzania.

The government issued a ban on all traditional healers in January in an effort to stop the killings and several have been arrested since then on suspicion of flouting the order.

Honestly, I'm not really sure that that is going to solve anything. If people are forced to practice in hiding (if they decide to continue working despite the ban), won't it just make everyone more suspicious, thus breeding more problems than it fixes?

The last is something a bit more close to home. I'm highly amused because apparently the point of the article is to discuss the public's reaction to the First Lady's muscles. (oh my!) Well, that's how they lead into the meat of the article anyway. Maybe at some point I'll find out what all the debate is about concerning her choice of dress.

The actual point of the article is the speculation that maybe our new president is doing too much - specifically, too much of the wrong thing. Yes, it is important (says the author) to deal with healthcare, education, our infrastructure, but is it worth it to fix all of these things if our country succumbs to the banking crisis while we've been changing everything else?

Now, I've just recently risen from approximately the intelligence of pond scum to maybe that of a newt about all of these issues. So I can't really comment on what's going on more than I already have. Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have read enough to give me a better idea of the situation so that I can actually talk about it in an intelligent manner.

- Jess

Current events

Jess here. I have to find a psychopathology-related current event for class tonight, and the article that I found (from February 10, 2009) is an interesting one and I thought I could kill two birds with one stone by sharing my thoughts on the matter with you as well.

The article, "Pressure to be a supergirl is causing teen mental health crisis" talks about the "triple bind" that teenage girls are in today - pressures from adult expectations, consumerism and a "highly sexualized pop/cyber culture that celebrates physical perfection and stratospheric success." (had to quote that one - it had alliteration in it!) Apparently, according to this author, teenage girls in this generation are experiencing depression and other mental health problems earlier than ever before because of all the contracting messages they receive, and their inability to cope with failure to meet these standards.

To quote one paragraph, which I find most interesting (short of the other people's comments after the article, which I shall definitely touch on later):

"It's [this 'triple bind' idea, that is] why girls who once had a bit of breathing room to figure out their futures now feel under the gun before they finish sixth grade, already anxious about getting perfect SATs and a roster of impressive extracurriculars," the book goes on to say. "And it's why girls who once might have identified with alternative female figures - a rock star, an athlete, a female author - now have trouble finding any role models other than those who are beautiful, hot, thin, and thoroughly focused on conventional notions of success."

Now, I don't know about you, but I know quite a few kick-ass female authors who are ready and willing to show up these other 'role models'. Tamora Pierce comes to mind as one of my all-time favorite quasi-young adult writers who specializes in powerful and quirky feminine figures. Also up there are Patricia Wrede (the "Dealing with Dragons" quartet of hers is fantastic - also decidedly young adult-esque). Anne McCaffrey is a little older target audience-wise, but she is equally fantastic. Then there is my current favorite female author - Robin McKinley - writer of Sunshine, Spindle's End, Rose Daughter, Deerskin, and others. McKinley does a fantastic job retelling stereotypical fairytales with a decidedly un-stereotypical cast of characters. My favorite part: the princesses aren't ditzy and powerless. (I'll side-step my usual rant about lack of agency in women in fairytales for the moment...I daresay you'll hear it from me eventually.) McKinley's women don't need to depend on some handsome prince to ride to their rescue - they take matters into their own hands. Best of all, they don't come across as these unattainable figures, either. Unlike the super-thin, glamorous stars and models our culture apparently is pummeling us with, McKinley's (like most authors I read, actually) characters are down-to-earth, witty and practical.

I would take these authors, or the characters they write so well, as role models over some starlet or uber-poweful CEO any day, thank you very much.

That's not to say that I don't feel stressed out or unable to achieve the standards I set for myself, though. I understand what the author is trying to say about our culture and its demands - although I agree with one of the commenters who noted that it isn't just teenage girls who feel these pressures. Maybe guys are culturally conditioned to hide it better. Or maybe researchers are overwhelmed with all the hype about the new opportunities for women in the workforce (women power! and all that jazz) and would rather investigate a "new" phenomenon rather than finding out more about something that's been going on all along.

Additionally, Hinshaw (the author of this book on the triple bind idea) notes that while genes and biological factors, naturally, have a role to play in which person develops a psychological disorder and which does not, the changing trends in girls' mental health cannot be explained by changes in genes - he says that would take generations to show up. Obviously, it must be our culture's fault. We must not be raising our girls right if they succumb to these cultural expectations and believe that they must achieve the perfect body and the perfect job and the perfect life to be perfectly happy.

Wait a minute - this sounds familiar. Oh wait - my mom fought against these sorts of ideas when she was 16. In the 1970s. Maybe the end goals have changed with the years, but the stress of achieving the ideal lifestyle - I think - is very much the same.

Okay, so if the cultural expectations haven't changed all that drastically, can we blame the prevalence of those messages in the media for the increase in mental health problems? Or is it just that our world moves so much faster with cellphones and blackberries and the internet allowing a more constant stream of information, communication, (indoctrination?), and flusteration? (Yes, I just made that word up.)

Hinshaw suggests volunteer work. Obviously that will help young girls to get a different perspective on what is important, and will give them goals that they can achieve.

I agree with one commenter who laughed and pointed out that this is just adding another time commitment to an already hectic lifestyle. Even if these young girls give up something else in order to participate in volunteer programs (as another commenter suggested), I'm still laughing. Get a 13 year old to volunteer rather than spending time with her friends or watching TV? The idea is ludicrous. It will never work.

So "suck it up" says another commenter. The world is the way it is and to get ahead, this is the lifestyle you have to lead. Men and women alike deal with the increased pressures of the world today - basically by becoming emotionless automatons with no free time and no social life (says the commenter). Deal with it, or don't become the CEO of your company (because that's the end result of not having enough extracurriculars to pad your resume with, obviously.)

So what if "dealing with it" means that our young girls have more and more mental health problems? Is that the end of it? Isn't there something that we can do that both fits with the current speed of the world, but also keeps down the depression rate?

We've all see the Dove commercials, trying to get girls and women to feel better about their own bodies. Shouldn't there be something similar telling them that getting into the top school and aiming for the best job maybe isn't the ultimate goal in life?

Read more books, watch less tv. Eat dinner with your family. Parents, spend more time with your kids and less at the office (haven't you heard Cats in the cradle by Harry Chapin?).

Will that help? I don't know.

Just some food for thought.

Nerdy!Dalek

Jess here... just wanted to note that while sitting on the futon with N and K, watching Merlin fanvids is fun, its less fun when I try to hide behind a bag of carrots so that I can't see N's computer screen because she's tempting me with fanfiction that I can't read yet.

Also, the carrots then tempted me to eat one, and it was decidedly un-tasty. Boo.

Expect a post with our collective favorite fanvids in the somewhat near future. Certain of us have been watching them near incessantly. Apparently they're addictive.

Also, K is a terrible enabler. and N's devil!conscience. Apparently I am the "good" one? (quaaa??? - when did this happen?)

Anyway, the psychopathology take-home midterm calleth. Apparently I need to write essays about things like bulimia. and stress. One of these things I am very familiar with. The other I am not. Any guesses as to which?

I'll give you a hint. Apparently Type A's run in my family. This comes as a surprise to no one.

On a completely unrelated side note, N is adorable when tired (and needs to get something resembling sleep tonight!!!) .... totally just pushed her off the futon, after which she toddled off (I know this because she was chanting "toddle, toddle, toddle" as she went).

....and she's back. (guess how I can tell. ... yup.)

toodles, all!

Work!Fail Revisited (because, it is, after all, Monday)

BAAAH! I have gotten relatively NOTHING done today. *headdesk* I just don't care much at all to do work right now. I need a mental holiday. Also, I feel terrible because I couldn't sleep last night, and I have no motivation to do much of anything except stare out into space.

Space is pretty.

Chapter three is coming along slowly. Very slowly.

The most productive thing I did today was watch the unicorn episode of Merlin again and contemplate why British telly is made of WIN. Oh, and also read fanfiction and came up with a kick-ass idea for a Parker/Hardison (Leverage) fic. It involves jumping off of buildings. I may or may not turn it into a short story. That would make me happy, if I could actually get something out of my strange fanfiction addiction.

But alas, I will go sort of kind of actually do work from now until dinner, and then I have a stupid meeting and yet another re-watch of the unicorn episode and then Drabble Quest and then sleep. Maybe. I'd really like to be able to sleep.

GRRRR.

Of course its Monday... (aka Common Courtesy!Fail revisited)

Gloomy!Dalek

Jess here, again. In the lab, again. Being stood up, again. What gives?

Once again, I could have slept in, if not for this study. Significant difference from Friday - this time its raining. *rolls eyes*

I don't even have the energy to rant about this any more. Its sad, but I'm at the point where I simply do not care anymore. So what if we don't get enough participants to get significant findings for my senior thesis... its not like I really wanted to get the study published or anything. No, of course not. No, I don't need this to graduate, what makes you think that?

I'm not even in the mood to use my excess of time stuck in the lab to catch up on the drabbles I missed last night because I was (futilely) trying to get work done. I have a sneaking suspicion that my crack!fic tendencies would fall quite flat in light of my current mood.

I'll give it a try, in the hopes that it will get me out of my funk, but the results may not be submitted to Drabble!Quest if they're really depressing.

Devious!Dalek

EDIT: 5:50 pm

Both people who stood me up this morning have rescheduled. Even better, the other experimenters are running both of them. Bwahahahaha.

So even though I wasted two hours this morning (and by "wasted" I mean I got paid to grade stats homework corrections during that time) it all evens out in the end, because now I'm running closer to half of the participants this week, rather than two thirds of them. (10/17 rather than 12/17 - makes me feel better about myself.)

Resistance!Fail

It is unfortunate, but true. I, Nicole, just like Bradley James, have become completely smitten by Colin Morgan's cheekbones. Honestly, I don't know if Bradley James is truly smitten by Colin's cheekbones, but I certainly am. Insomuch as I have rewarded myself for writing three sentences of my novel by reading a Merlin fanfiction. It's an addiction, I swear.

Anyway, the character in my novel has somehow gone from being equal parts Chuck, the Doctor, and Marshall from Alias to having a little Merlin tossed in. *facepalm*

In other news, I have been completely cracked out for the past... three days or so. Cracked out to the degree where it appears as if I've been receiving IV caffeine. I think it may have something to do with the ridiculous hours I've been keeping. There's really no reason for me to go to bed at 4 am, but I am anyway. Well, yesterday also had Daylight Savings time to blame, but I would have most likely been up anyway.

Being a real person: FAIL!

Now I have to go attempt to do something productive... after one more Merlin fic.

Drabble!Quest

Test run of Drabble!Quest One was entirely successful tonight - not to mention ridiculously fun. And now we're watching more Merlin which is awesome. We've finally gotten to the episodes I hadn't seen yet (like the unicorn one, which we're currently on...)

Merlin - good at sneaking. not good at lying.

oh BBC, we love you so.

So yeah, Nicole is finishing putting her drabbles up on our LJ (see the link in the previous post) ... and hopefully we'll get Kyla to guestpost because hers are fantastic ... seriously. (Jess is jealous.)

Best of all, since we read our drabbles outloud (or attempted to - I was crying during my first one, I was laughing so hard...) ... I can get around my vow to not read fanfiction during Lent.

Nicole: there are ways you can get around the Jesus.
*both of us start making stealth!poses and break into song*
Dah-nah-nah-nah.... nah nah... nah nah: can't touch this!

....aaaand I'm done.

night all!

Fandom Drabble Rules

Nicole and Jess have come up with a new game/competition because we lack the motivation to do anything else actually productive (go us) - and will be posting the results of our madness here at some point. Here are the rules (for us later) and so that you can play, too, if you so desire:

Materials:

• two 6-sided dice (and/or 1 that you roll twice)
• collection of random sayings, quotes, plot devices, etc. (we have a pumpkin! he is cute!)
• list of 5 (or 6 - we like having an 'other' category) fandoms you know well enough to write in, and list of 6 genres (we'll list ours for an example)
• timing implement

The Rules:

• roll dice to discover fandom and genre, pull however many of your plot-device slips you desire
• set timer (we've discovered that 10 minutes is a little tricky; we're trying 15 this time... its really your choice)
• go.

Sample fandoms (ours!):

1. Doctor Who/Torchwood
2. NCIS
3. Merlin
4. Dresden files
5. Dr. Horrible
6. Other/of your choice

Sample genres:

1. Romance
2. Angst
3. Mystery
4. Crack-fic
5. Sci-fi
6. Action/adventure

All drabbles and fics and the like will be posted here, at the ugly link: http://guardrailfail.livejournal.com/

Enjoy!

Work!Fail

Nicole here. So far, all I have to say about today is Ugh. I found out yesterday that I was accepted to 1 of 3 grad schools so far. Except it's not the one I really want to go to. It is in fact the school that thought I was an undergraduate. So much, in fact that they sent my acceptance email to the email address I used to apply to them four years ago. Ah, well. They do have a really cool program where I could teach an intro to creative writing to undergraduates. And they would pay me for it. I enjoy that part a lot.

Other things. I have a LOT to write for class. Except for the last few days, I've been doing nothing but reading fanfiction and watching Merlin. Major, epic work fail. I need to write chapters for class, AND just so that I can you know, actually publish the damn thing, but I just kind of feel like mucking about, watching British television and reading fanfiction.

Anyway, now I'm watching Narnia: Prince Caspian and confusing all the characters with characters from Merlin. *facepalm* I mean, really, Prince Caspian looks sort of like Lancelot. The thing I'm looking forward to most is when Eddie Izzard shows up as Reepacheep. Woot.

I do have a really amusing plan for a crack!fic for Merlin in which Uther throws a temper tantrum, Merlin and Arthur make out already, and Morgana needs to slap a bitch. I will most likely end up writing this before the things I actually need to write, but maybe it will get me back into a work mood.

But alas, back to the Britishness.

Scheduling!Fail ... and Merlin

Jess is - Aggravated!Dalek

Some important things you should know to understand my irritation and strange/unhealthy desire to EXTERMINATE things:

1. I love lists. This is not relevant, but you should know that I'll be using them often.
2. Its Friday, specifically Friday morning.
3. I used to have a 9 am class, but have recently dropped said class in favor of my sanity.
4. I'm running participants for my senior thesis in psychology. We're aiming for 70-80.
5. Number 49 was supposed to come in Monday, originally, and rescheduled for 10 am today.
6. I wanted to sleep in. (Silly Merlin was distracting me from finishing my grading in a timely manner last night...)
   
7. Number 50 (1 pm today) was supposed to come in Tuesday, and then yesterday, and missed both of them without any prior notice.
8. I thoroughly dislike it when people waste my time. The only person who can waste my time is me, darn it!
9. I slept through my phone alarm (thank goodness for Nicole's, or I really would have been late!) but as such slept through when I could have eaten breakfast.
   
10. Number 49 is currently more than half an hour late and counting.
11. I can't go get vending-machine!poptarts until I know 49 is definitely not showing.
12. I could be asleep right now.

So, folks, what do you think - is common courtesy too much to ask these days? Its not like we're asking all that much of our participants - come into the lab at your assigned time, do ridiculously boring tasks for half an hour, and tell us if you were suspicious of anything before you leave. For this, they get all kinds of extra credit and chances to win money and good karma!

Did I not do enough studies as an underclassman? Maybe this is just karma laughing in my face because we kept joking about it while writing up the proposal for this study last semester. Please, karma - don't be mad at me!!!

I'm actually mostly just using this post to vent my wrath before I email 49 and tell said participant that 1) they will have no further chances to reschedule because technically we're supposed to do part 2 (lab portion) within 5-7 days of beginning part 1 (email survey thing) .... so we won't be able to use their data if we wait past today, and 2) I now have to dock extra credit from their account for not showing up (they know about this already - I just experience unholy glee in reminding them... because they're wasting my time). I don't want to be too snarky in this email, just in case they have a legitimate reason for not attending which would make me feel like a terrible person. But damnit, I just want to snark!

Maybe a change of topic would be good.

Watched some more Merlin last night while conspicuously not grading the homeworks I was supposed to... and there was an awesome moment with the sneaky evil!sorcerer character (played by Pippin from Keen Eddie) who does his while diabolical rant to paralyzed!Uther about why he's going to kill him (....like you do), sounding very much like Inigo from Princess Bride. (look at all the references I'm making! glee.)

Evil!Sorcerer: Hello, my name is... actually, my name is kind of wimpy and unimposing so we're going to forget that one.
Paralyzed!Uther: *blink*
Evil!Sorcerer: You killed my mom! .... and my dad! ... actually you basically killed everybody, you psychopath!
Paralyzed!Uther: -__- (I would be throwing a tantrum right now.... if I could move!!!)
Evil!Sorcerer: Prepare to die! .... slowly, and painfully. I'll watch.
Paralyzed!Uther: *blink!!*
Evil!Sorcerer: ....beetle?

Ah... I feel strangely better. And its after 11 so 49 is out of luck. Polite, snark-less email time. *grumble*

- Jess

** Awesome Dalek icons credited to Alden from tetrap.com. **

EDIT: 1 pm (waiting for the new #49 to show up *crosses fingers*) ... apparently it was Lancelot (*giggles* .... he lances.... a lot) that we were originally comparing to Inigo Montoya last night. but I think Edwin the evil sorcerer works just fine too... and is possibly funnier. I mean, seriously - we can't use the beetle line with Lancelot!

EDIT: 1:20 pm - still waiting. R yelled at the 10 am and apparently she's coming in at 2. We shall see. Attempting to use my time productively...while sitting in plain view of the door in case 49 does show, trying to catch up on a project of mine that I am very, very far behind on. I would much rather be on the computer, but I'm afraid this room can only be seen by half of the door *rolls eyes* and if someone is not seriously committed to this study, they'll just keep walking. grmph.

EDIT: 2 pm - the original 49 is here! I guess R is very scary when threatening people with bodily harm. Bwahahahaha.

Procrastination!fail

Nicole!

I was poking around on teh interwebs (while supposedly finishing the grading for stats that I'm supposed to have done by tomorrow - TA!fail...) looking for a good icon for my profile at the nerdfighters site so that I don't have to resort to using my own silly looking pictures...and I found these! Holy nerdy wonders of awesome, batman!

So as the less technologically savvy of the us, my question for you, fair roomie, is ... is there any way we can use these somewhere awesome? P-p-p-please? I am all aflutter. (At the very least, we could show them to other Who!fanatics who could use them on their LJs...)

Alas, the homeworks plead for grades. I'll be back later - Merlin tonight, yes?

/procrastination.

- Jess

Food!Fail (or things that do not constitute a meal) also.... about us.

Geek-girl no. 2 present and accounted for! ... even though it appears that my cookies did not want to be acceptable... or something. cookie!fail. (like guardrail!fail but more tasty, doncha know.)

and so, for our semi-inaugural post, Jess and Nicole would like to bring you....

Things That Probably Should Not Be Considered A Meal (i.e. meal!fail):

Thing 1: Baked potatoes. by themselves. alone. and lonely. nutritional value - zip.
Thing 2: spagetti/rice and corn. fiber - check. everything else - nil.
Thing 3: jambalaya (depending on the recipe). especially when its too spicy to actually be edible. (boo and hiss) (also - spice!fail)
Thing 4: mac'n'cheese. (especially when its the only thing you eat alllllll day. .... its alright for snacks.... although Jess is of the opinion that the cheese half of mac'n'cheese is quite nasty. ... Nicole doesn't eat cheese.)
Thing 5: tater-tots and corn. (Jess is amused by the number of things we could potentially write on this list that follow the format "____ and corn" ... and/or "potato and ____"). Not that tater-tots are not AWESOME... but as the main course, they are not acceptable (except in extremely large quantities. maybe.)

This does not have to be you! Even factoring in all of the strange edibles-quirks of the people we live with (vegitarian, vegan, nothing-orange-or-otherwise-random-ian, and omnivore!Jess who will eat just about anything you put in front of her) ... it is still possible to have well-balanced meals every night.

That's right vegan!skeptics (we know you're out there) ... you don't have to eat meat and strange dairy-esque products in order to be healthy... you just have to be a little more careful about how you get your protein, etc. (and vegan!corndogs are delicious.... thank you...Hank?)

FYI: we're planning on posting tasty tasty recipes for all food lovers, no matter what creed... at some point..... soon.... hopefully. it will happen. and it will be awesome.

.... we suppose we ought to explain ourselves at some point.... about what this blog will be about in the future. and who we are... maybe.

thus - List!notfail. (bwahaha?)

potential posts:
1. ramblings
2. fics (there may or may not be an epic!cross-over of awesome between all of the fandoms we enjoy... be on the look out!)
3. recipes (see above)
4. rants about things that fail
5. interesting/geeky things that amaze or amuse us (the strange banging noise coming from the apartment downstairs should probably be included in this category. Jess is afraid to investigate..and Nicole has deserted us for the phone. It actually sounds remarkably like the drumming sounds the goblins made in the mines of Moria in FotR. If they start making other goblin-y sounds, Jess is out of here. You're on your own folks.)

... drums.... drums... drums in the deep....

....here come the drums, here come the drums! baby, baby baby! ... you are my voodoo child... my voodoo child...

/geek.

surprise!news:
Nicole just got into grad school! YAYYYYY! *Jess does happy!dance for Nicole.... in her mind*

6. music. (Nicole just made a creepy noise. occasionally her obsession scares Jess...) (Jess likes talking about herself in the third person.) we'll make recommendations about good music and youtube videos and things.
7. guest!blogs by Julia, third in the triumvirate of people who have lived with Nicole.
8. books. Jess is a book!nerd to the nth degree and loves to infect others with her many (many many) loves. she hopes that maybe having something to write about will make her keep reserving time to read things that she wants to (as opposed to classwork) ... yay! We suppose that fanfiction recs would also be included in this category... as we also love to spread the insanity in that area. Also, Nicole writes books. and graphic novels. and other awesome things. Perhaps we could persuade her to let us read parts of them?? *Jess looks significantly at her roommate*

we may have to return to the list of us at some point (Jess really wanted to include a list of "things we are not" ... like guys. and walruses. ... because negatively defining things is always so much more interesting.) but Jess needs to get ready to trek up the hill so as to have food!time with her boyfriend... and thus will be signing off...saying "meow, meow meow meow meow." (points to anyone who actually gets that reference.)

TTFN!

- Jess and Nicole, geek!girls extraordinaire.
(*Nicole waves good-bye*)

Welcome to Guard Rail Fail

For all those times in your life when you're watching a geeky, sci fi or fantasy show/movie and BAM! Anachronistic railing. Was there a temporal shift? We can help you out.

Comments and thoughts on life as a female geek.