Just once, I want to read a romance that doesn't have the "oh my god, s/he's paying attention to competition, I'm so jealous" plot point.

It's really annoying when it's before the relationship has been established. She's not your girlfriend yet, you moron, you don't even know if she likes you like that, what are you glowering and glaring and acting possessive about? How arrogant can you be?

And it's just as annoying when the relationship is already there. He chose you, he spends all his time with you, he's happy with you, would you stop being so damn jealous? Are you really that insecure?

To both: you're going to ruin it if you don't stop it. Right now.

Arrrgh.

I keep meaning to post something and never having the time. So, really quick here:

I just spent the past week in Baltimore (actually, we spent Tuesday driving up and visiting places along the way; Saturday we went to Monticello, and Sunday we saw old friends. But it's close enough and much easier to say "a week in Baltimore"). Mom was in meetings for the first two days, and Dad is really getting too old to stride about vigorously any more, so we didn't do all that much. I had my laptop, but no internet (it's an interesting fact, I think, that the more expensive the hotel, the more likely they are to try and tempt you into spending more. I have no idea how much the hotel cost because Mom's company took care of it, but it was on the harbor; the view cost extra, there was a mini vending machine inside the room, and the internet wanted a cable and money. In contrast, the hotel we stayed overnight at in Charlottesville was nowhere near as grand or fancy but had free wireless), but I was expecting that and well prepared due to the Internetsless Curse of Doom on my room. It was okay. The aquarium was a lot of fun, especially due to Liss who came up for the day to go see it with me. The jellyfish and the nautili also helped, but there was no octopus, which made me sad.

My impression of Baltimore pretty much boils down to:
Too windy (there may have been hurricane remnants exacerbating that, I'm not sure), needs more public transport.

Liss kept comparing it to San Diego, and in comparison I think the latter won. My favorite city is still London.


Also, since we got back, Ruby (the cat) has been very very clingy and demanding. Dad is certain it's because "she feels the end coming." I would prefer not to think that she's going to die soon, much less than that she can predict it. We were gone much longer than usual, and she's often clingy and demanding after only a weekend away, after all.

AION. The game for which I got a Windows OS. It starts on the 22nd, but since I preordered (how many people from my WoW guild are doing the same thing? *counts* ... 6 plus?) I get two days in which to make two characters in advance, and then two days to get ahead of all regular buyers. Given the only way to get into the betas was to preorder, and the betas were really full... not so much in the get-ahead phase. Oh well.

Still, Aion is quite pretty. I'm going to need an icon with wings if I post about it more than once.

The last story he tells. That one.

Okay! Now that I'm a little more coherent...

Part of the reason I kept up with LJ so much was because I wanted to tell people stuff and had no other method of doing so. Now I live with other people, talk to my best-friend-sister nearly every day, play WoW, and have Vent. I'm telling people stuff all the time. And LJ gets neglected. Poor LJ.

Last week I had half my wisdom teeth out. The bottom two. And they had to cut into my jaw to remove them, so I'm still recovering. Currently, this means that it's hard to sleep at night from the pain, and the usual medication I have for it, prescription-strength Ibuprofen, doesn't seem to work if I take it and go to sleep for some reason. So last night I tried the other stuff for the first time: Percocet, which is an opiate. And I'd say "Whoo, that stuff is strong," except that it's more of an "urg" than a "woo". Weak joints and dizzy, and six hours later, as the pain starts to wear back on, so does nausea. No fun. In fact, it feels an awful lot like having the 'flu, only without the coughs or runny nose.

Why I was up earlier this morning and why I'm up now, I don't know. I'm going back to sleep.

I am still alive!

I am really very fond of The Quiet Gentleman. It is not, in fact, the first story by Georgette Heyer I ever read, but it is the first I encountered, because my father read it to me when I was sick, some twelve or so years ago. And of all her works, it's one of my favorites.

But.

The last time I read it was before I had much, if any, knowledge of FF7, and as I try to reread it this time, I find myself somewhat distracted by the hero's pale grey horse, whose name is Cloud.

Not that horses have anything to do with any Final Fantasy world other than the first (Crazy Horse is one of the monsters you can run into there). So the fact that I can read of Gervase's horse Cloud and be made to think of FF7!Cloud-as-a-horse is all Coyo's fault.

Just. The name keeps jumping out at me, that's all.

Dammit, I love it more and more each time I read it. The Most Grievous and Lamentable Tragedie of The Death of Lord Voldemort (A Small Play in Three Acts) is a burlesque in the style of revenge plays, in iambic pentameter, and is such tasty, tasty crack.

For some reason, my favorite line is one of Voldemort's, in the first act: "'Twill be a fun and nifty thing to do!"

And then of course there's the Nekkid Quidditch Match (final part here), but that's something else entirely. I don't usually like tales told through letters, btw.

Both stories were pointed out to me by firelizard5 ages ago, and I still love them so much.


[Edit] - Oh hell, why not. Anyone who knows D.Grayman may enjoy You Give Love A Bad Name, though it's not funny in the same way as the two above. But it's veelafic! Actually decent veelafic, at that. You should be aware, though, that it's not entirely work-safe, and the final couple are both boys.

But. It is most emphatically not plotted out as "It turns out that A is part veela, which makes B realize how hot he/she is, they get it on, and everything is happy ever after." It is also not "It turns out that A is part veela, and now they'll never know if B really loves them for themself or not, woe." And it is humorous. Go read it.

I do not like multiplayer games. I don't like dealing with strangers, being expected to always form parties, etc. I infinitely prefer to play solo, off-line, where I control either one or more people and it doesn't matter if I decide that I care more about the story than the fairness of my methods. In fact, if there are cheats for a game, I usually wind up using them. And dying annoys me.

And yet.

My sister is somehow perverting converting me to WoW.

WTF.

It was 17°F out there when I got up this morning. It's now 20°. And we're about to head off to MarsCon.

Aaaaah.

Alright, I realize that I'm spoiled, but come on, people! Text rotation and text direction. I want them. ( I do databases. Not spreadsheets, databases. )

Well. I really like it. So there.


The Craft of War: BLIND from percula on Vimeo.

Ahh! It disapeared! Oh well, have the youtube version instead.

I order my sister around mercilessly.

She called me tonight to let me know that she'd got her voice back again! (I hadn't known it was lost.) And she's still sick. But. They don't have any organge juice. No limeaide. No citrus juice, no apple juice, no fruit juices of any sort, no fruit ices, no... Well, they do have fruit.

So, my parting line was: Eat fruit, and go to sleep.

( never mind this, Darcy gets depressed when she gets fuzzy )

I think I'll take my own advice, with an addendum: Eat fruit, read a fun story, and go to sleep.

Who gets full off a few swallows of root beer? Me, apparently. What the hell.

Also, when the rest of the room is dark, the tree makes a red, red glow down the hall. It's a very magenta-red, and it's still and solid, so it doesn't resemble firelight at all, but it does bear some resemblance to movie!nuclear-reactor-glows. Kind of disturbing. But cool.

Well, the sink research turned out okay, and there's a plumber coming tomorrow. So.

I get to be happy now. We got a tree~~ And it's small and cute and pretty~~

And last night I had a caramel walnut apple crumble, yum. It did not inspire me to propose to the chef*, but I suspect that's because I didn't know him/her, and they weren't Aerith. Also, as an extremely picky eater with rather pessimistic tendencies, I'm not in the habit of being swayed to positive extremes by food. But lo, it was good.

Mmm.