everything will be alright

Keep meaning to do this but keep getting side tracked, so in the interest of time here's a little update by way of bullet points beneath the cut.

( Stuff! )

Stole it from writteninsable:

Comment to this post, and I will list seven things I want you to talk about. They might make sense or they might be totally random. Then post that list, with your commentary, to your journal. Other people can get lists from you, and the meme merrily perpetuates itself.

( My 7 things! )

Bullet point updates because I've meant to do this many times but keep forgetting!

· I finally made my first post to my AO3 account here, a little ficlet I wrote awhile back for someone and it grew on me. :) Hoping to add more eventually!

· My fandom_stocking is here!

· Only 9 days left until my trip to see believeitup and onlyonechoice omg! :D

· Am immensely enjoying x_project and probably have been too active there lately but man. So much fun. :D

· Almost done my Christmas shopping, but may hit the stores in the city tomorrow to finish up things.

· SWTOR early access starts the 13th! I pre-ordered and submitted my key like the first morning it went up for sale so I should start on that day, I hope. :D

· LOTRO content update on the 12th! New multi-boss raid too, and new 3- and 6-man instances, so that should be awesome too. :D

So, I have my prompt for spook_me! Looking forward to the challenge, as horror definitely isn't something I've tried to write before. Also, for as much as I'm a huge fan of the show, I've never really written anything of any great length for Veronica Mars either, so this should be interesting. I did attempt a Buffy/VM crossover once, which, haha, would be amazing, but I didn't really know how to tackle it and didn't get very far. Maybe one day.

Which touches on what's been crossing my mind for awhile now. Aside from a couple of NaNo wins, pretty much everything I've ever written has been based on someone else's writing or someone else's universe. Even my own creations, the OCs of whom I'm so fond, they were created set in Marvel or some other IP's world, so when I try to write about them I end up feeling handcuffed to that, as it were. It's just a bit frustrating; I'd love to write something original, something that's mine, but it's hard when the characters I want to use for said original fiction are inexorably tied to preexisting universes.

That being said, I've had an idea about breaking out of that pattern, but it's tough. I mainly want to write about Sara/Ruby, kinda, which is difficult to picture outside of the Marvel 'verse, but I've got ideas. They are at times both the easiest and the hardest to write about: I know them very well from writing so much, but because I've written them in a certain way/setting so much it's hard to break out of that mold. I've also incorporated so many other characters into their world, in different games/settings, and those are hard to separate as well. See my icon, for example: Sara and her niece, Norah, which... well, there's a lot to write about that in and of itself. Norah was made as the daughter of Ruby and Sara's brother, who we (we being myself and my lovely wife, believeitup, who created/played Ruby) decided would hook up in canon, and she was made for a follow up game set a generation later from the game where Ruby/Sara played. But after that first game ended I wrote so much AU fic where Ruby/Sara really were Ruby slash Sara that, well. It's confusing, made even more so by playing in another game where you could play characters from dead games, and where both AU Ruby/Sara and Norah were present, hahaha. And there's the NaNo I wrote, the only one I ever finished, fyi (my original NaNos suck SO HARD and I never did clue them up, just hit 50k and said "I'll get back to that later" and never did), which also tossed in some other characters in the mix. Including Susan, who I made for another game that was later revealed to be in the same universe as Ruby/Sara's game, so of course I had to have them meet up, etc. (randomly, Zooey was Susan's pb and her character in this new Fox sitcom looks like she'll be a LOT like Susan omg I am so excited, you guys).

ANYWAY. The bottom line is that things are muddy in my mind, to say the least. But I really really want to write about them, so I dunno. We'll see how things go, I suppose. With that in mind, and with the VM/horror challenge (by the way, I may be looking for volunteers to help beta it, which I've never ever done before, depending on how big it gets, heads up!), I should at least be getting back into writing. That's the goal, anyway!

And on that note, I should get to bed at a decent hour for a change, since tomorrow's another working day after all. Hope everyone had a nice weekend and that you have a good week too! :)

Randomly, I need some How I Met Your Mother icons, hmm. I have seriously become a bona fide bigtime fan of the show, haha, and am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Season 6 on DVD so I can catch up; I've mainlined 1-5 in the last several weeks or so.

Anyway! What's up with me, besides my newfound love of HIMYM (as us fans are oft to abbreviate said show), you ask? Quite a lot, actually! I'll put this behind a cut because lord knows there's likely very few of you who will find all of it interesting, maybe a few who will find parts of it, but that's about it. XD

( Snip snip! )

That's about it off the top of my head, I should hit the hay since I've work in the morning, an unexpected return to court but what can you do? I'm sure there was more I meant to say but it's slipping my mind now, ah well. I can always post again later if I think of anything. :)

So, I got some writing done last night, huzzah! A lot more than I thought I would, overall anyway; my character is involved with an upcoming plot for X-Project so I got to work on a few logs for that, which was nice. I've been part of a few plots before this one but this is definitely the most involved I've been in anything since joining the game, which is awesome. :D

I also finally started the piece of fiction for the upcoming contest that I'd been meaning to do for ages, so that's at least started, if not even close to completion. Hoping to work on that more this evening and over the weekend, though I'll be gone to the city tomorrow night for Canada Day celebrations. :)

Feeling a bit lost tonight for some reason, and I'm not sure why. A little restless too, just weird. Can't really put my finger on it, but it's not a bad thing, really, just don't know what to do with myself. I've had a good day, though I slept way more than I wanted - I guess that just shows how draining and exhausting the week was, ugh - and now my team's getting their asses handed to them by the effing Maple Leafs, wtf, but other than that it was a good day.

I caught up on my summarizing duties for X-Project, listened to music, even picked up some lunch and got some Bowmore 12 year old scotch while I was out. Even listened to The Very Best of Frank Sinatra and then the entire Franz Ferdinand catalog, the latter because they came next alphabetically and I was too lazy to change things up, heh, all while playing some LOTRO. I even met a few new people randomly, both from the southern hemisphere, and we grouped up to level a bit. They were really nice, one even made me some jewellery for my toon near the end of the night, though there was too much idling for my liking, heh. What can I say, I'm used to leveling alone I think, though I do like grouping, just not all the time. I dunno, I am a fussy MMO player, what can I say? XD

Speaking of which, huge new update to LOTRO coming on the 21st and it's got me... not worried, it's not going to be a bad thing, per se, but it's going to change so much. There are three big class changes coming with the update, and two of those are the two main classes I play. I've researched them a little but it's going to be a whole 'nother ball game to actually play and learn the changes, and really there's no safe quarter for me since all of my main characters will be affected. Heck, even on the server where I don't play anymore, three of the four capped characters I have are the three classes being radically overhauled. x.x It's just a little scary, I guess, that and the new instances and raids they're adding, because I'm basically a weekend warrior now on the server I play the most due to time zone differences. I guess maybe I am a little worried after all, about being left behind as everyone else is able to play more during the week when I just can't do it. Or, well, I could but then work suffers and that affects me (and others) way, way more than when I can't play the game, so it's an easy choice there.

Then there's the new MMO I've started to play, which I haven't played since ... Tuesday or so, maybe? Not really sure, and I do like it - a lot - and have the advantage of having one of my best friends playing it as well, but mreh. I think I just need to put some more time into it and work past the area I'm in now, which has been a little blah, and it doesn't help that my buddy has blown past me and we don't play together any more when we're both on, which has been rare due to both of our work schedules too.

I'm hoping to write more, too, and may even give it a shot pre-raid now (one starts in ~40m or so as I type this). beanarie's upcoming birthday and talk of fic has got me excited, though I don't really have any concrete ideas for the same. Today, though, omg, Kristen Bell and Zooey Deschanel had a nice, long back and forth on Twitter that just made me so, so happy to read, haha. :D That may be a little sad or something, I dunno, but seeing the interaction of two PBs that I've used in the past for two of my favourite characters to play (and who "existed" in the same RP universe) like that? It was awesome, and made me want to write, which is a good thing at least, yes? Yes. XD

Have also been thinking about table top gaming and wishing I had somewhere to give that a shot. I actually sent an e-mail out over a week ago now to an ad posted at a gaming store in the city, looking for players in a new D&D-type setting (Deathwatch, a Warhammer 40k table top setting), but I haven't got a single reply to say they're full, or not doing it, or what. Mreh. Flashback to PAX East last year and being shunned by some of the D&D players there and yeah, not a good feeling. But it is what it is, I guess. One of these days, maybe.

Anyway, not much else to add right now, there's just a lot bouncing around the old cranium at the moment. Sorry for the stream of consciousness-type post but, well, that's where my head's at right about now. Kudos to anyone who was actually able to read all of that. XD

So, a lot of changes to cover, it would seem! Starting with the obvious, I finally went and got a new layout, inspired into action over talk by my lovely wife's example. I still want to change my userinfo page too but, well, baby steps. Plus I've been busy with other things too, which is a good thing.

Let's see... well, I've started rping again, which is a very nice feeling, gotta say, I've missed it a lot. It's on an LJ game too *waves to the XP people on his flist!* which is pretty neat, and I'm having a lot of fun there so far! Still trying to make my way through it all, there's so much to take in but it's all good stuff, and I'm in the middle of a log there at the moment and that's helping to settle me in too. :)

Other than that, I've been playing a new MMO that opened its headstart doors for pre-order people on Thursday, called Rift, which for some reason is way more fun now than it was in the beta testing I did. I think it has to do with the classes - there are four basic ones (Warrior, Mage, Rogue, and Cleric) and you can customize the heck out of each of those with 9 sub-classes, without getting into too much detail, which is neat. But I pulled a Classic Jeff™ and bit off more than I could chew, talking to an EQ2 guild that was forming up (in EST which was great as my LOTRO kin is more PST oriented) and deciding I'd play a Cleric. I did not like my Cleric all that much, haha. But Thursday I rolled a Rogue and am loving it, so much, and today my buddy Brad, who caved and got the game last night, made a Rogue and I'm swapping to my Mage to play with him. Server is down for a little fix up but we'll hopefully play more this afternoon, I miss that. :)

LOTRO is still going well, our kin is raiding on its own for the most part now, which is awesome, and we've beaten the toughest raid in the game several times now, even in Hard Mode, so that's great. :D I've been working on an alt there who is now 52 (cap is 65) but Rift may interfere with that plan, heh, we'll see. But it's going well, mostly, and last night we even managed to get a special item for a very special person omg. :D

I'm still reading a lot too, though again the recent increase in rp/MMO time has affected that, but I'm still better than I was before Christmas, which is nice. Writing too, though that's now 100% rp and I haven't worked on any fic or anything recently, though there are a few bouncing around in my head.

Music-wise, completely head over heels for She & Him, which has also reignited my interest in all things Zooey Deschanel. Note to self, get more icons of her, hmm. But yeah, loving her music! Also got The Essential Leonard Cohen which I don't know why I didn't have before, shame on me, but I can has now. :)

Annnnnnnd that's about it. How's that for an all-over-the-place update? :D? Also, yes, I use too many emoticons, don't I? Now back to enjoying my coffee (on a weekend? The devil you say!) and trying to get back into Rift!

This was an interesting weekend. I ended up staying up super late both nights, getting up fairly early today.

Friday after work I took a much needed nap, conking out for two hours or more, ugh. I spent the rest of the night just chatting online and working on rp stuff, which was nice. Didn't do a lot, just chilled out and enjoyed it immensely.

Saturday I didn't do much either, really... when I got up I went to Bay Roberts with dad to take a vehicle out for a test drive. I can't remember if I've posted about it before but I know I've told a few people about the car problems I've been having lately. It's pretty much certain that I need a new vehicle, and I've been looking at getting a new vehicle, not just a second hand one that's new to me. So we took out this 2007 Ford Escape, driving around for a half hour or so before bringing it back. I certainly had no intention to make a purchase, and we couldn't anyway on a Saturday, but they made such an awesome deal including trading in my car that we're going to talk tomorrow and I could own it as early as tomorrow after work. It's a great vehicle, handles well, pretty easy on gas for its size, has all the bells and whistles I want (save for a remote starter which can be installed later on anyway) and it's a nice shade of blue to boot. The rest of the night consisted of watching hockey and movies, staying up until 6am or something rediculous like that. It's all everyoung's fault. ♥

Today I got up ~10:30am or so, which was impressive considering how late I was up, and headed into the city. Friday night I actually filled my car up with gas so mom's logic was that we should burn a bunch of it today before trading the car in, if I in fact do so. We visited my sister, doing some shopping at the mall and grabbing lunch. I picked up Pulp Fiction and The Mummy Collection (The Mummy one and two + the Scorpion King in one set) for 2/$30, along with Cross Bones, a Kathy Reichs book I bought since I wanted something good to read and she comes highly recommended by rena82. I hope you're right! :) We got back around supper time and I watched the tail end of a game and then just finished Pulp Fiction. That movie is so awesome.

Anyway, I have to work tomorrow and despite how pleasant and relaxing this weekend was I think this week might be pretty crappy. It'll certainly be busy at any rate, so I need all the rest I can to prepare for it. Plus I want to read more of that book, it's good so far, hehe. I hope everyone else had a good weekend! :)

Ugh, I remember when staying up until 7 or 8am wasn't all that uncommon on weekend. Last night I fell asleep in my chair here around 4:30am while talking to bunnytough, and it just happened again, albeit for a much shorter period.

Today was a good day though, got lots of sleep, played WoW all afternoon and surfed / rp'd / watched movies and stuff all night. I meant to get some writing in, but ah well. Perhaps tomorrow afternoon! Now I need to sleep, and maybe have some crazy dreams like I did last night.

I dreamt that I was wanting to see a movie with my sister but we were too slow eating supper. She was being way too slow and we missed the start time, and I was all >:/. Then for some reason my parents came and got us and we ended up going to Hawaii for a vacation, hehe. I remember crawling around on some beach there and telling myself that it was real, and trying to find my cell phone so I could make a LJ phone post and let y'all know where I was. XD The house we stayed in was owned by the Premier of this province, and he was there with his wife. I think I made some crude joke at his expense before realizing that, oops, he's letting us stay here for nothing and could kick us out if he wanted to, hehe. Then I was just roaming around a beach or something, I forget, and woke up. I felt disappointed because I didn't actually make a phone post like I thought I did. I wonder if anyone's ever done that, like sleepwalking only sleep posting, hehe. Which reminds me of Big Brother and how one of the guys talks gibberish in his sleep, apparently.

ANYWAY. Yes, off to sleep I go, before I fall asleep at the computer again and dream that I made this post but actually haven't. I think I'm awake now and typing though, so it's all good. XD