jaded by design

It's an anniversary week for me :)

2009-12-17T07:33:10Z

Today is my 15th wedding anniversary.  <3

That was us on December 17, 1994. Damn, we were skinny, LOL! But I wouldn't trade the years and my two kids for anything, though. :D

No big plans (school night and all) but we are going to dinner at Texas de Brazil. YUMMMM! Can't wait.  :)

Ten Years at TF.N!

2009-12-15T14:12:14Z

Yep! Today is my 10th Anniversary at TheForce.Net: 12/15/99 - 12/15/09. Do I laugh or cry? Or just take the insanity plea? ;)

I am petitioning for Cade banners, though....

Just for the day. ;)

Everything's all right

2009-12-11T06:35:44Z

*singing* ~~yes, everything's fine~~

After five weeks of the biggest cluster**** I've ever seen in health care, my step-father FINALLY had his heart bypass surgery this past Tuesday. He did great and was transferred out of ICU and into a regular room today. We're hoping he'll get to go home early next week.

In the midst of all this was a very happy blessing. Monday afternoon, I got a Christmas card from my bestest friend from high school/college. He gave me his new phone number, said he had moved back home last month and - get this - was working at the same hospital where my step-dad was! So the day of dad's surgery, I got to see him for the first time in YEARS and catch up. I'm SO happy he's home and foresee many good times to come. <3

In fandom randomness, I got my Holiday Fic Gift Exchange request: a Wraith squadron fic. I know the characters from other books, but I never read the X-wing series. ::headdesk:: This should be fun. I just hope it doesn't suck, because I'm a big fan of the author who requested it. Thank the maker for Wookieepedia, LOL! ;)

Star Wars Celebration

2009-12-04T05:15:57Z

I never, ever, ever, ever thought I'd say it, but I'm not sure I'm all that up for CV. :( Which sucks since SW is my main (read: pretty much only) fandom.

CIII was awesome with the pre-ROTS hype. CIV was a LOT of fun, not so much for SW, but more for meeting online/FanForce friends, hanging out and having a good time. But now, with nothing new really happening in SW (other than the cartoon) and so many people in my fandom group of friends saying they're not going.......I just don't know.

And then there's the timing: right before Dragon*Con. They're gonna lose a LOT of folks to D*C - you can take that to the bank!

The location doesn't bother me. I love Florida - even in the summer - but I've been there many times (was just in Orlando 8 months ago, actually) and I'd almost rather go somewhere I've never been before if I'm gonna spend that kind of money on traveling. Like New York Comic Con in October.

Then again, it's Celebration! Thousands of SW fans and costumers all together! And where else are we gonna get our big group Cade Brigade pic with John and Jan? *flail*

We have new kitties!!

2009-11-24T09:36:28Z

On a MUCH happier note than my last entry :) -- We decided to get another cat this past weekend. This took me totally by surprise since Tim had been so adamant that he did not want a litter box in the house. He said he’d been thinking about it (and missing Jarael – but couldn’t ADMIT he was missing our kitty because he’s a guy and all ;)) and asked if it would be okay for us to get one of those fancy shmancy self-cleaning litter boxes as an early anniversary present. My answer: Uh – YES!

He finished his job early Saturday afternoon and we headed down to the Humane Society intending to adopt one female kitten. (We’d always had female kitties before.) Two kitties caught our attention first, both 4 month-old males: a gray tabby and a tan tabby, but both already had applications in on them from a family who hadn’t decided which one they wanted. Still, they let us take them both back to the play room and – no lie – not two minutes later, the lady came back in and said the family had just called and wanted the gray kitty.

Meanwhile, the tan tabby was working hard on getting himself a family by crawling up on our chests, nuzzling our faces and necks and purring up a storm. I’ve met a whole lot of cats in my life, but I’d never met one that was so affectionate. :D We claimed him.

Continuing his Surprise Traci streak, Tim suggested that we get two. Again: Uh – Yes! The staff member took us directly to the kitty who had been the tan tabby’s cage buddy when they were babies before being put up front for adoption: a five month-old solid black male with an injured/blind eye who also had a very sweet disposition.

She asked if we had a problem with a black cat and we said no – apparently, a lot of people are superstitious about black cats and won’t adopt them. There is usually a screening/waiting period, but when we expressed an interest in taking the black cat with the bad eye, she said we could take them home that day. :)

Their original names were Napoleon and Ziggy and I was filling out the paperwork, not even thinking about new names, when Tim blurted out: "Cade" and "Jariah." It was perfect! We even got them red collars for their pirate sashes. *grin*

(click on thumbnails for larger view)

Dude! We have ALL this room to play??? No wai, man!

Keeping Jarael’s tradition of sleeping on the laptop:

Cade, true to his namesake, is a ladies’ man:

And NOT doing drugs ;)

Jariah, like a proper pirate, squints his bum eye into a wink: How YOU doin?

Does his DEADSHOT impersonation:

And likes beer:

They are SO funny! When they chase each other around the house, it sounds like a herd of elephants. They also insist on one-upping each other. When one gets into something, the other immediately follows and checks it out.

Sunday night, Jariah decided to help with the laundry:

So, of course, Cade had to investigate what his brother from another mother was doing:

They also did this with the windowsill, the piano, the counters, the table, the bookshelf, the couches, the fireplace…you get the idea. ;)

And just like their namesakes, they fight:

And make up:

I haz bruther and mouse. I r happeh. <3

These guys have made themselves at home and have already brought many, many much-needed smiles and laughs to our family. It was the will of the Force. :D

Twitter fiction?

2009-11-18T09:34:13Z

I was scanning the boards over at TFN and noticed that someone had in their fanfic thread title that the story was "Twitterable." Being a Twitter user, this caught my attention. ;)

Apparently, there are novels being written via Twitter with each paragraph consisting of the allowed 140-chunk of characters. Soooo, I got to thinking: would this be fun, like micro-mini drabbles? or frustrating?

Did some Googling (doncha love how that's a verb now ;)) and found a couple of good articles:

http://www.twitip.com/how-to-start-a-twitter-novel/

http://www.metroactive.com/metro/05.13.09/arts-0919.html

Lemme just say that I'd never heard of the Japanese "cell phone novels" in that second link and the idea of them just kinda blows my brain away. The phrase "ego generation" also caught my attention but...well, that would be a whole 'nuther blog.

I'd heard of poetry via Twitter - I even joined @TwiHaiku and wrote a couple of 'em - but I'm wondering if this might be a fun challenge?

Oh, and to my Twitter friends here on LJ (you know who you are ;)) the #5 advice in the first link: "More than five Twitter posts on any given day can be dangerous. You’ll induce reader fatigue" had me almost laughing out loud at work. ;p

Almost a decade in fan fic

2009-11-04T07:43:20Z

I'm not sure if I should be proud or embarrassed, but next month will mark my 10-year anniversary at TF.N. *blink* So, I guess it's appropriate timing that my author interview for Fan Fiction Resource has been posted. Talk about a walk down memory lane! And they even left out the link to my earliest writing, probably because it was written on the cave walls of TF.N's original UBB boards, lol.

Here's a link to the Interview thread and there are a few nods to folks here on my f-list.

I reckon this means I finally have to put that Oldbie badge on. ;)

Kid rock!

2009-11-02T06:02:31Z

Impromptu at a restaurant on Halloween -

Emma: *puts on a sign that says: "I love ceiling."*

Waitress at the restaurant: "What are you?"

Emma: "I'm a ceiling fan."

She's brilliant! :D

Sixteen months ago…

2009-10-22T23:20:48Z

a stray kitty joined our family.

Over the past year, we grew to love her like she’d been with us her whole life. We found out that she’d originally belonged to a neighbor down the street who’d kicked her out when she had a baby.

She had the perfect personality for a family. The girls could literally carry her around the house like a doll and she never complained and her favorite place to sleep was curled up on someone’s chest or lap.

I don’t know how, but she was also house trained. No kidding. She’d come into the bedroom and meow to wake us up when she needed to go outside, so we never had to get a litter box (which was a deal breaker for Tim) and she was able to live in the house. Surprisingly, she didn’t bother Tim and Rachel’s allergies.

She’d been acting sickly, though, and three weeks ago, she disappeared. We left food out for her, combed the neighborhood, asked our neighbors to keep an eye out for her, but to no avail. We’re 99% sure that she went off to kitty heaven.

Her absence has left a hole in my heart and I keep expecting her to meet me at the door when I get home from work in the morning. :( I can only hope that her passing was peaceful.

In memory of Jarael (click to enlarge):

Cutie face

Her favorite place to sleep

Her second favorite place to sleep – on my laptop, lol

A funny pic with her namesake’s comic book

Guard Kitteh protects the preciouses

The last pic taken of her in what Rachel decided was her Halloween costume

I'll miss her more than I can say. <3

Worried

2009-10-04T17:37:32Z

It's Sunday afternoon and we haven't seen our cat since Friday night. She's indoor/outdoor but has always stuck close to the house ever since she adopted us last summer. Unfortunately, she's been acting puny lately: sneezing/coughing/sleeping a lot and generally listless. Could be age-related (she's 13) or something else.

Today is cold and rainy and she HATES cold and rain. Normally, she'd be at the window or in her little house under the porch, but we can't find her. :(

Rambling about reading

2009-09-26T13:25:43Z

Finished "Outcast" last night. I enjoyed Luke and Ben. They FINALLY have a healthy relationship for the first time in, how old is he? Sixteen years? Great interactions and banter. Some classic Allston humor. Their story was worth reading. And Luke was a BMF. ;)

(For those who've read it, that singing part at the end cracked me the hell up!)

Mostly skimmed the rest. Enjoyed a few parts with Mirax, Winter and Jaina, but pretty much bored with everyone else. Sad but true.

Gonna borrow rhonderoo's copy of "Omen" when she's done. I hear it's good for all the reasons that girls like and fanboyz bash. (I've come to the conclusion that men and women read these books very differently. ;p)

Need to read John Jackson Miller's second "Lost Tribe of the Sith" e-short story. Some good stuff he's got going on there to tie into FotJ and I really like his prose. (FYI - It can also be read independently from FotJ.)

Going back to Dresden Files novels for a bit - just checked out #5 from the library.

Release date was announced for Kay Hooper's "Blood Ties" in January! (tnpredsfan Look at the cover! ACK! Bishop!!! *whimper*)

Also need to read Gail Simone's "Villains United" and "Secret Six" because - have I mentioned? She's the comics GOH at MidSouthCon this spring! :D :D :D

106 hours until Legacy Tatooine #4 is in my hot little hands. <3

Oh, and I ordered a boxed set of the Sookie Stackhouse books (the series that "True Blood" is based on) for Tim to give me for my birthday next month, LOL.

[/ update o' sentence fragments]

Star Wars Invasion #4

2009-09-23T06:49:50Z

Since LJ cut will NOT work:
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***SPOILER SPACE***
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Thanks to people smarter than me, I've just discovered that MARA JADE is in the preview for Invasion #4 !

She lives!! And I want to have Tom Taylor's babies for including her in this series. :)

*happy, happy dance*

EDIT/UPDATE: I thanked Tom on Facebook and he answered me back saying "she's an awesome character."

*big, fangirl grin*

*is a geek*

SO not ready for this

2009-09-01T22:29:09Z

My 12 yr-old daughter came home from school and announced that she has a boyfriend. A panic attack is the appropriate response to this, correct?

Legacy 39

2009-08-28T02:38:58Z

GAHHH!!! Jan coulda WARNED us!!!

My eyes....

Need a post-it note. STAT.

Headed out in a few hours

2009-08-13T09:47:28Z

We're leaving for New Jersey this morning. Tim has made some beautiful memorial videos for my grandfather and I'll post a link to them once he gets them uploaded to his site.

Gonna be a long day. I've been awake since 3pm yesterday, worked all night, will go straight to the airport once I get off and we won't get to my uncle's house until this afternoon. *yawn* On the upside, it'll be easy to sleep tonight and get switched back to a daywalker schedule.

(We'll be about an hour away from where John O. and Jan D. live and we're hoping to be able to meet him/them for lunch or dinner one day. Mary's mother died not too long ago and they've been back and forth to Michigan, so we'll call him once we get there and see. )

Great news and a Squee

2009-08-10T05:57:35Z

The Squee - I posted this over at TFN, but the Memphis Fan Force got a mention from John Ostrander at Newsarama in this interview with Gail Simone:

“I also have to do a special shout-out to my buds in the Memphis Star Wars Fan Force. We met online, they took good care of me at a Memphis Con earlier this year and then again at Metropolis. Great folks. I love the fans.”

And by “met online” he means the Cade fan club thread in EUC. *grin* (Who knew that a silly, over-the-top, fangirls-gone-wild thread would sprout a real life friendship with The Man. *shakes head in awe*)

Gail and John met for the first time at Metropolis this year, although they had been mutual admirers of each other’s work for a long time. Here they are judging the costume contest. (Notice that John’s in his Cade Bridage shirt. ;) )

Gail has become his #1 cheerleader and has worked her ass off for the benefit for John. So, here’s the

Great News – Gail posted on Facebook today:

"I am so ridiculously proud of the comic book industry right now! Between paypal, the comix4sight.com booth, and the online auction last night, we have raised around THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS for John Ostrander and Hero Initiative, and we still have lots of art for the online auction AND donations still coming in from people like Ethan Van Sciver, Brian Bendis, and Joe Quesada! THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO DONATED!”

Wow! :D <3

Aaaand breaking news via Twitter: The CBR report.

An excerpt: To close out the event, Ostrander came to the front of the room to give a few words of thanks. “A fan came up to me today and apologized that he could only give $20 to the Paypal account,” Ostrander said. “The only thing I've ever expected [by way of support from fans] was when they buy the book and they like it. When someone gives $20, that's amazing.” He added, “I feel like George Bailey at the end of 'It's a Wonderful Life.'”

I shall refrain from fangirl gushing, but I just love him. =)

The things you see when you haven't got your gun...

2009-08-07T10:21:19Z

A friend shared this on Twitter and it's just horrible enough for me to feel the need to inflict it on my f-list. ;p

Moderately NSFW and you will not be able to look away. You have been warned. ;)

*ducks and runs*

Someone up there loves us

2009-08-06T02:58:03Z

Tim got a check today for a job he had done (for free for a friend) that will cover the costs of our airfare and car rental to travel to New Jersey for my grandfather's memorial next week.

It was totally unexpected and we are thrilled and thankful!

Deliah Blue costume

2009-08-05T09:08:38Z

Check it out! I've never seen a Blue costumer before:

Now, I'm just geeky enough to be bothered that those are the wrong pants for that top and her belt sash should be purple, but the bracelets and boots are awesome!

Is that a pink bodysuit? *squints* That's a great idea. Gotta be easier than a gallon of body paint.

A Funny

2009-07-24T00:36:05Z

kayladie showed me this when she was here last week. Thanks, gal! I needed the laugh. :)

"Cool Guys Don't Look At Explosions"

Dad called a few hours ago...

2009-07-18T02:56:24Z

My Pop, the one we went to visit a few months ago in FL, passed away today.

Tim and I had JUST talked to him yesterday - he and Grammie were sitting at the bar having cocktails and he sounded great! He’d finally recovered from his recent gallbladder surgery and sounded like his old self again.

This afternoon, he was doing what he loved: working out in his yard helping a neighbor when he collapsed on his lawn. He was gone by the time the ambulance got to the hospital.

They have no family down there, but neighbors and friends are staying with my Grammie until my dad and uncles can get there tomorrow. We don’t know anything about arrangements yet, but we may be driving to FL or NJ (where they are from) next week.

I’m completely heartbroken.

The world is a smaller place now without him.

Benefit for John Ostrander

2009-07-12T22:19:25Z

As some of you know, John Ostrander recently had surgery for glaucoma in an attempt to save his eyesight. He told us at Superman Celebration last month that everything had gone well and, so far, the surgeries have been a success.

Being self-employed, he only has cobra insurance which did not/will not cover the costs and so a benefit has been arranged for him at Chicago Comic-Con.

Here's a link with info: http://www.comicmix.com/news/2009/07/12/chicago-comic-con-to-host-john-ostrander-benefit/

And a link to the site where donations can be made: http://www.comix4sight.com/

Spread the word! :)

I had Nicki's baby.

2009-07-12T07:21:57Z

Nicki ( tnpredsfan ) :

My daughter, Rachel:

Who knew?

LOL!!

TF.N FanFic Awards

2009-07-02T03:38:20Z

The final qualifying lists are all up and I just want to say a huge CONGRATS to everyone on my f-list who got noms this year!! Having such talented folks in my circle of friends makes me feel cooler by osmosis. :D

Thanks, again, to everyone who nommed my stuff:

Best Response To A Challenge: "Party Girl"
Best Short Story: "Party Girl"
Best Series: "Fangirl Footnotes"
Best Canon Interpretation, Female: Deliah Blue in "Party Girl" (*high fives to divapilot for the same nom for "Beyond the Wall"* Pink represent!!)
Best Original Character, Male: Jaxan in "Party Girl"
Best Non-Human: Deliah Blue in "Coloring Outside the Lines"
Best Villain: Nyna Calixte in "Of Her Own Making"

I don't think I've ever had this many noms qualify before and I am thrilled and very honored. *blush* (Especially for the OC and Nyna. Just...wow.)

Somehow, I always manage to be out of town for the Beyond awards ceremony and this year will be no exception. Somebody promise me that you'll take pics of Cade if he's a presenter again this year! ;)

Buffy > Twilight snark

2009-06-26T13:10:23Z

OMG...

Found this at Geek Girl Diva:

Bwahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!

WIN! Total win!

The embed is huge here, but check out Geek Girl Diva for the link. I can't figure out how to make this smaller.