And to all kick-ass Marines everywhere.

In honor of that, a convo via text I had with my father today :3

Me: Changed my mind about Christmas. I was a special Aston Martin that goes for $1.4 mil. It's shiny
Dad: Yeah, and I want the new G-V jet with teak wood flight deck
Me: That sounds fun
Dad: Only 35 mil
Me: Chump change
Dad: Then please allow me to add a braburn yacht for 6.2 mil
Me: Go for it. But I'm borrowing it.
Dad: Cool. I will let the pool boy go with you
Me: You're such a good father :D He'd better not be a sixty year old pool boy
Dad: 18 with a speedo and a twin brother that does hair. Quit drooling it ill becomes you
Me: *dies of laughter* Does your jet come with girls to do maintenance? ;3
Dad: I always have women to turn my wrench and blow my super charger
Me: Stop making me snort coffee

And then it gets away from me because keep fucking talking and won't let me think.

One of my roomies made a crack about two serial killers meeting on the road - like, one picking the other up, and I thought they were talking about an actual story cause I've read it (or maybe watched it, I can never fucking remember all the mediums of the different stories I recall, how sad is that?).

There's obviously more than one out there, it's a premise I'm sure has been done plenty, but the one I'm thinking of, one of the killers definitely had a guitar case and I would swear she was a chick, but I just don't recall for certain.

It's going to drive me crazy now -__-

The World of Chemistry

If chemistry actually involved two guys making out, I think I would have paid a lot more attention in class. XD

Happy November, oh internet of my heart. I have many exciting things to tell you.

The first and most important is a very happy thing. On Friday I went onto twitter, where I am www.twitter.com/sarahreesbrenna, as an oppressive twitter system denies me my last, delicious 'n.' And I saw people were congratulating me.

Since I had not even managed to get dressed for the day and was indeed cocooned in a fuzzy blanket, this struck me as odd.

When someone told me that The Demon's Lexicon had been nominated for a Carnegie award, I became hopelessly entangled in my blanket and almost fell down.

The Carnegie Medal is the British equivalent of the Newbery and the National Book Award. Richard Adams won it for Watership Down. Margaret Mahy, being a writing goddess, has won it twice. It is indeed an honour to be nominated, especially in the company of such people as Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Laurie Halse Anderson, and R.J. Anderson for her awesome book Knife.

When you have a book out, you spend a lot of time trying to find out what people think. A bad internet review can make you lie down in the floor cuddling a cup of hot chocolate and murmuring 'You are my only friend, Mr Cuplington.' (All right, maybe that's just me.) So something like this just transformed my day, and made me wander around in a daze of joy all weekend.

My book. Nominated for a Carnegie. Mr Cuplington and I are so happy.

In other news, Cassandra Clare's lovely fansite Mundie Moms have been so very kind as to make Demon's Lexicon their Book of the Month. There's a forum up where people are already discussing it, and on November the 12th, 9 PM EST, there will be an online chat. I will put up the link to it in this post on the day - hope to talk to some of you then!

And a present for you all: here is the first chapter of the second book, The Demon's Covenant, which will also be up on the website very soon. I hope you enjoy!

( The Demon's Covenant, Chapter One )

Am very excited for the announcement we will be making on LT3 this Wednesday. Hopefully others will be as well. I wish it were Wednesday now...

ETA 1123
So, the kittie Levi loves people. He especially loves the Brother, but really any person will do. And he's very clingy about his love. If you're near enough (by which I mean, within jumping range), he'll plop his little butt right on your shoulder and start nuzzling and nudging and rolling and just purring for attention. As mentioned once before, the Brother calls him a stat-less familiar.

If you bend over--like to retrieve the pen you dropped or tighten your shoelace or any other reason you may have for bending over, Levil will jump, settle himself quite comfortably at the back of your neck or in the center of your back and just sprawl. And you might say, "Kitty, this is uncomfortable," but Levi only purrs louder, sprawls some more, and bats at your pony tail as if to say, "But I is so cozy."

The other morning, when I was working off my netbook out in the living room, Levi decided he wanted some attention. And my netbook has camera. ^_^ The pics are kinda dark, not sure what's up with that. But anyway, ( have some cute: )

Today miome, Miome's parents, and I all took the Metro into DC proper to go to the Smithsonian (or more accurately, the American History museum). Of course we would pick the one weekend they're doing track maintenance on the blue line. Sigh. But we went, enjoyed ourselves, and got back. So that is a win.

Otherwise, I'm still slowly unpacking things. My cats are thrilled because one of the things I unpacked was the cat bed. Happy kitties are happy. They also think that the boxes are the best cat toys ever, right behind string and paper bags. Kitties.

I'm hoping that once I get into a more stable routine, I'll start really writing again. I know people have been agitating for me to finish the Witch King stories and I'd at least like to get the next part done before seriously writing another set in that universe.

At least I'm beginning to have time to read again. ^^

ugh, I feel like I've done nothing but eat all weekend. My only healthy meals of late have been those I pack for work. Then I just come home and stuff my face.. /sigh I'll get there. I've come this far, I know I can finish it; I just need to find my willpower again.

Sore throat is not fun. Started as a tickle overnight and was kind of scratchy before I went to bed, and then when I woke up an hour ago it was full on sore. Awesomeness.

Meg, I actually do have that page written, I just absolutely hate transcribing about as much as you do. I shall get it done, though. Eventually. ^^;;

Ugh. It takes me way too fucking long to transcribe. I'm just not good at it. I don't have the patience and I'm constantly reading/changing everything as I go.

Ah, well.

There is a sad lack of biscuits in my life. I think I shall make some, and then go back to writing by hand.

At least the stupd transcribing is done for now.

Argh. There is nothing more irritating than trying to type with cold-stiff hands.

Though, there's slightly more than my cat here ^_~

( my cat, two other cats, flowers, and me! )

ugh, I hate it when I sleep through my alarm...

ETA 2056
Yet another insurance company sending me "you're turning 65!" crap. I don't even know where to begin expressing my feelings on this.

Some of these you may have seen before, so I apologize if it's just a lot of repeat. I honestly do not remember what I've put up here.

( this will probably be a freebie )

( start of next novella )

( midsummer story one )

( midsummer story two )

There are three little babie raccoons on the porch. They are attempting to play with the kitties through the glass. They are so cute!

When I go home for Christmas, I'm doing a marathon of SPN seaons 4 & 5, cause I'm totally sadface I don't really have time to watch it and am sooo out of the fandom. Plus that will be an awesome fun thing to do while I'm home ^__^

*work was actually bearable today, though I am utterly sick of the fact my coworker cannot discuss anything other than pregnancy, children, children playing sports, sports, television. It is so painfully obvious my life is black to their white -__-

*King's new book comes out soon ^____^

*I really need more time to write. I have to fix pretty much all of my Wick stories, I've got to finish another novella for the serial stuff, and I've got three short stories IP, not to mention all the other shit I should be doing. I so cannot wait 'til we can afford to hire other writers.

*Though, speaking of that, Sammie and Sasha need to write more too, cause there stuff is all shiny ^__^ I've read the sequel to the story Sasha has running on LT3 now :D and I know a bit about the third, and I know what she's working on now hahahaha but she's in the living room slacking off :3

*It needs to be the weekend, alas, I have one more day of work to get through

*In a couple of weeks, I get to go fetch my littlest sister from school and she is going to hang out with me for a week \o/

*And in a couple of months, I get to go home to hang with my family ^___^

*Hope all nano'ers are going strong ^ __^ Keep it up!!!

*Would anyone want snippets of the stuff I'm working on? I don't recall which things I've posted and which I have not, but if peeps want, I'll post. People are much quieter now that stories are not regularly here, and that makes me sadface, cause I liked chatting and harassing peeps, but I suppose that is the way it goes ^_^ Still, if snippets are wanted, I'll post'em.

*Guess I should stop with the slacking myself now.

*oh, yeah. we had tasty chinese for dinner, and I bought some tasty woodchuck cider that is apparently limited release or something shiny.

*Okay, going now.

Tsaiko: I think I'll log into my computer.
Computer: I think not. *freezes while logging in*
Tsaiko: Fine. I'll just hard reboot you.
Computer: Wrong answer. *blue screens on boot up*
Tsaiko: WTF? *sends ticket*
IT Guy: What seems to be the problem?
Tsaiko: *indicates computer which is cycling through blue screening and restarting in an infinite loop of malaise* This.
IT Guy: We'll do Windows repair!
Computer: Look! I'm fine!
IT Guy: All fixed. *starts walking away*
Computer: Dumbass. *freezes*
Tsaiko: Wait! It just froze.
Computer: Damn. Should have waited a few more seconds.
IT Guy: Hmmm... This requires a few sacrificed chickens to fix. BRB. *takes computer*
Tsaiko: *twiddles thumbs until lunchtime* Oh look! It returned my computer while I was at lunch.
Computer: La la la.
Tsaiko: Did IT say what was wrong?
Coworker: They said the docking station was bad so they replaced it.
Tsaiko: ...I seriously doubt the docking station was blue screening the computer while it was booting.
Coworker: Sounds fishy to me too.
Tsaiko: Well, I need to reboot to get the license manager working.
Computer: Not in this lifetime, bitch. *blue screens*
Tsaiko: I've only had you for seven days, you stupid piece of shit!

IT has taken my week old, brand new computer and is going to reimage the thing. Personally, I don't think that will help. The only thing that will help that thing is a bullet to the case.

The empire strikes back

In recent weeks, we've taken huge steps towards blocking spam accounts on LiveJournal. In fact, we've suspended as many as 30,000 accounts in a single day! We've implemented several pre-emptive measures to prevent the creation of spam accounts, and we've honed our detection of suspicious content. Spam bots are a crafty lot, so we'll continue to refine our tactics and keep up the good fight to keep you safe from spam attacks on LiveJournal.

RSS feeds again

If you're addicted to xkcd_rss, icanhaschzbrgr, or other syndicated feeds, we're pleased to report that we've resolved the update error that was mucking up your RSS feeds. While content was being pulled correctly, it wasn't being posted to the feeds themselves. Late last week, we finally nailed down what we hope was the root problem, so content should post properly. We thank you for your patience.

Wii have killer CSI Deadly Intent contests!

c_s_i

If you're a gamer who loves CSI, have Wii got news for you! c_s_i is sponsoring killer contests. Simply post a question to a member of the CSI crew. The winner will get a free copy of CSI: Deadly Intent for Nintendo Wii (with a retail value of $39.99) and get their question answered by a member of the CSI writing team! There's also a fantastic monthly contest. To enter, join c_s_i, play the online version of CSI: Deadly Intent, and respond to a two-part query for a chance to win a Wii! Entries will be judged on composition and originality. Sorry, but you must be a U.S. resident and over 18 years old to participate. Check out the rules here.

Enveloped in postcards

Last week, we asked you to send in postcards to help us decorate our drab concrete walls. Here's a photo of the results so far! Thank you so much and please keep them coming! You can mail them to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be giving ten random users paid account credits.

Photos of the week

If you haven't visited our new LiveJournal photo community, you're in for an amazing visual trip. LiveJournal users from around the world will take you on a scenic journey to everywhere. Post your own pictures or kick back and enjoy at lj_photophile. You can view some of this week's awesome photos after the jump. Please start tagging with geographic location, since we'd like to track all the places around the world represented in this community. Keep on commenting too!
( Read more... )

argh Netbook will not open my Word files. I've been fighting the good fight since I stopped playing with Excel and doing LT3 stuff at 0400. Keeps saying they're not the right format. >_< I have the same version/model of the same word processor on my desktop and netbook. I am not amused.

Dear Megan,

Why do you have to work and be unavailable to me when I am not at work? I have ideas and plans and plots, but you are unavailable to me for approval/discussion.

I guess I could go work on stories while I wait for a more convenient time.

Impatient,
Sammie

***
Dear self,

Go write something or take a nap or something that might could be considered productive.

Not impressed by your lazy ass,
Self

***
Dear story,

Why can't you just already be written? That would save so many of us a lot of time and effort.

/sigh,
Your Author