cherith

Long Overdue post-winter giftfic round-up

: cherith; January 11th, 16:52

Current Location:: United States, Kansas, Edwardsville

Current Music:: Eddie Izzard - Unrepeatable | Powered by Last.fm

So, due to being sick and pretty much asleep for the majority of Yuletide sign-ups, I actually missed signing up as a writer. But, like I have the past few years, I picked up a few pinch-hits and ended up writing two stories. Neither in fandoms I've given a lot of thought to. As with a lot of stuff I write that's outside my normal fandoms, I was super nervous to write these, and I'm still not completely happy with them. But, I wrote them.

(All Story links go to AO3)

Ifs, Whens & Maybes - The Secret Circle [Cassie/Jake]
The Force - The Star Wars Volkswagen Commercial

And then somehow (I didn't know they did this to be honest) I was able to sign-up to get a story anyway, because I picked up more than one pinch-hit. Quel surprise! And then, I didn't get one, but SIX gifts, and I just was over-the-moon. So, for your reading pleasure:

An Honest Mistake - Dragon Age [Isabela/Aveline] (a special treat for me by virusq because technically DA isn't a Yuletide fandom)
Purgatory - Carnivale [Henry & Management]

There's more, but let me first say that I've requested Little Red Riding Hood stories every year I've done fandom and I've been super impressed every year by what people come up with. I got four LRRH stories this year and I love each of them. You'll see by the tags, I have a type for LRRH stories and I think all of these are slightly smutty.

Snow White and Red Riding Hood by Kastaka
Different than Good by Aja
The Beating of her Bound Heart by kassidy [Red/Wolf]
My Lupe by keerawa [Red/Wolf] (This is f/f with POCs - with warnings for age difference)

As for Dragon Age fandom, I wrote a few things for that (and one co-written piece) by far the longest of which is Of Wolves (which you might be tired of hearing about, but I'm not tired of talking about it - {see love of LRRH stories}

All Sweetness & Light / When No One is Looking [Isabela/Bethany] (a two-parter for onlytowardschaos and signcherie)
A Special Assignment [Nathaniel/Cauthrien] (written on the DA Kink meme as a Christmas gift for serindrana - technically unfinished, but reads pretty well as a complete piece)
Two Sides of the Same Coin [f!Cousland/Ser Gilmore]
Of Wolves written with serindrana [Bann Teagan/Ser Cauthrien]

And I got some cool stuff too:

Of Pride and Home by serindrana [Bann Teagan/Ser Cauthrien]
A Chance Encounter by seeherwrite (tumblr link)[Bann Teagan/Bethany]
If Death Should Part Us by theflowergirl (LJ link) [Neria Surana/Alistair]

Tags: christmas, fanfic, holiday, writing, yuletide

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Happy Holidays and things

: cherith; December 26th, 2011

I've been sick through most of the holiday, which sucks. About Wednesday, I got whatever cold that H had last weekend, and went home from work after our group lunch. Since then, I've been pretty much dead, brain full of mush and at the moment, thought I'm only feeling a little bit better after 12 or so hours of sleep, I barely have a voice.

It's not the greatest way to spend the holiday, but I've muddled through, still seen all of my family and have gotten some cool things from my online friends and family. Even sick, this has probably been the best Christmas I've had in a long time. H, I think, also had a really good Christmas. She was surprised by her gifts from us, and even more surprised I think, that she got all the things she did from Matt and I's families. They've all welcomed her so much, I think she's still a little surprised by it all.

Anyway, wherever you are, however you celebrate, I hope it's a great holiday for you.

Tags: christmas, health, holiday

Things... progress

: cherith; December 11th, 2011

I've been meaning to write and update and then just keep not doing it. Not having access to anything other than email when I'm at work does limit my output a lot. And when I'm home, I'm mostly over on Tumblr, writing or playing a game. Plus you know, family time since we have a teenager in the house.

As far as adoption goes, it's slow - we've turned in the vast majority of the paperwork, which is mostly all repeat paperwork. But, since H comes from a different agency than the one we foster through they need their own set of everything. That said, the way our families have sort of embraced H has been really nice. We feel most day like she belongs to us already, and I think she does too. We took her around on Thanksgiving and she met more of each family and did really well everywhere. She's just good teenager and we're lucky to have her.

In fact, we had family pictures with Matt's parents and sister this past week and H was in them, she even took a picture on her own with Matt's parents and it's just... super sweet. There's a great picture of the three of us as well that is getting printed on a giant canvas so we can hang it in our house. I also got Christmas cards printed with the picture yesterday and will get them sent out this week.

---

If you feel so inclined, I put my name down on this year's holiday love meme here.

Even with the good stuff going on - like having H with us, or my job getting extended for the next three months (this is very good), or being proud of some of the writing I've done lately - I still am struggling a bit with old anxieties and insecurities that are resurfacing after a long time away. So a little love goes a long way for me right now.

Tags: christmas, family, happy, health, holiday

Mix: One Step Closer (Dragon Age)

: cherith; December 3rd, 2011

Current Mood:: accomplished

Current Music:: After Midnight Project - Fighting My Way Back | Powered by Last.fm

This is a fanmix I put together for

tarysande. I did a little giveaway over on Tumblr a while back and she was one of the prize winners. She asked for something for f!Hawke/Sebastian and I was happy to oblige. It's done as a companion to her stories here and here.

( Tracklisting under the cut )

Download the mix from my site here (right click, save as, please)
Individual songs can be uploaded upon request

Enjoy, and let me know what you think if you download it. Thanks!

Tags: dragon age, music, music in the key of life

OFBB: Until You Belong To Me (Master Post)

: cherith; November 21st, 2011

Current Mood:: accomplished

Title: Until You Belong to Me
Author: Cherith
Genre: Horror, Supernatural
Word Count: 11,224
Rating: M
Warnings: religious subversion, something very much like dubcon, femslash, graphic/violent scenes, fire
Summary: Sorrow is a demon trying to get away from her master, and she enlists the help of an old friend. Written as a companion piece to last year's: Blind Denial the Long Way Down (also written for OFBB).

Part One | Part Two

Bonus content:
Mix: Devil's Spoke by

inferiarecoming

You guys, the mix that

inferiarecoming made is AMAZING. I don't normally faun over fanmixes, but I've been bugging her about it for the last week trying to get across how perfect it is. All the songs, they fit the story, they fit Sorrow, and she does with her mix what I always try to do, by choosing songs that flow together well throughout the mix. I <3 THIS MIX AND YOU SHOULD TOO.

I happen to think it goes well with the story, but my story and I have had many words over the last few months, and they weren't all great. So I'm not going to talk about how much I'd like you to read it. But, if you get nothing else out of this post, check out the mix at least.

Tags: big bang, fbandom, writing

OFBB Mix: Another Part of You (Hikikomori)

: cherith; November 19th, 2011

Current Music:: God Lives Underwater - Tricked | Powered by Last.fm

It's fanmix time again you guys! This mix is for

esotaria's

originalbigbang story, Hikikomori, which I absolutely loved. It's shadowy and has an adorable and brave main character. I think you'll like it a lot! I had a ton of fun putting this mix together and trying to give it a unique sound. Hopefully people get that from this mix. :D

From the summary:

Nobody has seen the residents of house 409 in three years. The only signs that someone still lives in the house are the pizza deliveries left on the doorstep. Rumor has it that the father had made a deal with the Devil and the Devil had come to collect. Both parents had been killed, they said, and only the daughter was spared. Trapped inside the house, a prisoner of monsters.

~~I will put up a link as soon as the story is up.~~ The story is over here. Check it out!

( Tracklisting behind the cut )

Download the mix from my site here (right click, save as, please)
Individual songs can be uploaded upon request

I hope people enjoy this, let me know what you think if you listen!

Tags: big bang, music, music in the key of life

So here's a post I've been meaning to make

: cherith; November 8th, 2011

Matt and I have decided to move forward with adopting H. We've been talking about it off and on since we got her and realized what a good kid she is. And then we sat down with her about two weekends ago and asked her what her thoughts were on the matter and whether or not she'd be interested. Of course, she is very interested and in fact told us that if we hadn't talked to her about it- she was wanting to bring it up with us soon. So, I think we are all on the same page here. It's an odd adjustment I think to go from taking care of another person's kid, to accepting them as your own. They tell you as Foster Parents to always keep in mind that things can change. A kid might not go back to /their/ parents, but there's always the chance that something will happen and the situation will have to change.

So, to go from that, to the idea that she might be permanent with us. I'm still trying to wrap my head around, while still trying to remember that it might not happen at all. We still have to get our side of things together- mostly paperwork (more paperwork o.0) but anything can still happen. However, we move forward with our plans towards adoption and hope that's the way things work out for us all.

It's continuing to be a difficult adjustment getting used to my new job, time at home with Matt and H, and everything else I want to do. It's getting a little easier to figure out what to do and when, but I know I'm not making everyone happy. I wish I could, and I suspect that if I won the lottery and was home all day, every day, I still wouldn't make everyone happy all the time. But, it hurts not to be able to do everything I can for people now. It's definitely not improving my mood and so I've been doing some things to help with that, in different parts.

I did a little giveaway for my Tumblr followers where I'm putting together some fanmixes. Fanmixes make me incredibly happy and I didn't really participate in any big bang challenges this year (aside from OFBB which is due this weekend - I keep having to remind myself) so I missed out on doing mixes for a lot of things like I did last year. So, this gives me the chance to sort of stretch out my music listening/analysing muscles, which I enjoy immensely.

In general I'm stepping back from fandom over on Tumblr and other places with several things giving me the opportunity to do so. The DA Land community- which I enjoyed a lot, is switching to become a BioWare Land community, which I'm far less interested in. So, that's one way. I'm also with the help of work, not on Tumblr as much- which I feel reminds me too much of high school at times with it's internet wives and constant reblogging memes and general asshattery when it comes to how people treat each other. It's the internet like anywhere else, but in such a condensed setting, I've been letting it get to me, because I LOVE the DA fandom so much. So, that's not only time and energy, but emotion saved.

I've also, in addition to working on fanmixes, been trying to work on my own writing separate from a lot of things. The OFBB helped at first, and then it didn't and now it's sort of helping again as I finish it up finally. I really need little projects to help me focus sometimes. Plus, I've lost my way with some of my original stuff, so I want to get back to it. Though, I'll probably still be working on DA stuff as well- just not as intensely, I think.

While I sort of step away from being active on Tumblr a bunch, I've got a queue a week long (and I'll keep that up) so my blog is active. But, I'm also working on the 30 Day Female Character Meme. I know there's a lot of those 30 day meme's about- but this is the first one I've really wanted to do. It's got a lot of good questions and has helped my analyst brain sort of break down why I like things- and see some patterns in the things I do like. If you want to read it you can see my 30 day tag here.

Tags: family, fandom, work, writing

FIN

: cherith; November 4th, 2011

Current Mood:: giddy

I said I would post again when the story was over, and today it is. I posted a big thing over at Tumblr a bit ago and I want to share it here too.

I’m VERY HAPPY to see this story completed (for now) and have fallen in love with the Teagan / Cauthrien pairing.

According to our Masterlist (yes, we have a writing masterlist), we started writing this on July 10th of this year. We posted the first chapter on July 22nd at dearqueen when we had already let the story run away with us a bit and if I remember correctly, we already had five or six chapters worth of it written by then (in the first two weeks, we’d written nearly half of it). In August, we slowed down a bit and over the other months we had two, two week hiatuses for various reasons, mostly school and work and just brain breaks for other stories.
We finished writing the whole thing on October 26th and posted the last chapter today, November 4th. That’s 108 days total for writing the whole thing - about three and a half months. Our total story word count pre-editing was 118,112 words, edited down to the 99,400 words that finished today. That’s a little over 1000 words a day - but to be very honest it was more like 5-10k in a day or two and then nothing for several days to a week or more.
This whole thing has been a pretty fantastic experience, and I know we’re both really happy that people like it as much as they do. If you haven’t read it, now’s the chance, while we take a break to work on other things. Because THERE WILL BE MORE of these two coming up.
But, mostly, I’m just completely O.O about this whole thing: in writing something I like so much, writing with Seri whom I love so much, and writing SO MANY WORDS that I know we both feel were just barely edging everything we wanted to write about in WAR.
All that to say this. if you have read any part of WAR, THANK YOU. AND I LOVE YOU. Just, so much thanks for supporting our crazy story.

Title: War is Never Cheap Here
Authors:

cherith &

serindrana
Game: Dragon Age: Origins
Pairing: Bann Teagan/Ser Cauthrien
Series Rating: NC-17/AO
Chapter Rating: T
Series Wordcount: 99,400
Chapter Wordcount: 6,822
Warnings: Problem drinking.
Summary: Bann Teagan has been corresponding on and off with the Lady Cousland for the past eight months; Queen Anora sends her watchdog, the dreaded Ser Cauthrien, to investigate. (Ao3) (FF)
Notes: War is Never Cheap Here will be updating weekly, on Fridays. Projected length is roughly ten to twelve chapters.
Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Tags: dragon age, happy, serindrana, writing

War is Never Cheap Here

: cherith; October 30th, 2011

Current Mood:: cheerful

Current Music:: Xandria - Firestorm | Powered by Last.fm

I haven't posted about it lately, because there's been so much else going on, but now that we're almost done, I want to remind people it's out there.

serindrana and I are *this close* to having "War is Never Cheap Here be finished. We've written chapter 12, it's being edited now and it'll be posted on Friday at

dearqueen. This was our first (but not last) actual co-writing fanfiction together project and I'm extremely proud of how it turned out. No lie, I cried a little writing the last chapter. So, here's the most recent info - and if you're Dragon Age inclined, I hope you read it.

Title: War is Never Cheap Here (11/12)
Authors:

cherith &

serindrana
Game: Dragon Age: Origins
Pairing: Bann Teagan/Ser Cauthrien
Series Rating: NC-17/AO
Chapter Rating: T
Series Wordcount (to date): 90,357
Chapter Wordcount: 8,146
Warnings: Dark. Violence and abduction.
Summary: The butcher's boy returns with the whole story. Cauthrien and Teagan ride south in search of Edlyn, hoping only that they can make it in time. (Ao3) (FF)
Notes: War is Never Cheap Here will be updating weekly, on Fridays. Projected length looking like twelve chapters.

Only one more chapter! This and the next, however, are pretty dark and heavy. Tread lightly.
Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Tags: dragon age, fanfic, serindrana, writing

The late, late post

: cherith; October 18th, 2011

So, I wrote something last week and tried to email post, but apparently, that didn't work and the post got lost in the internet ether.

I started my new job two weeks ago, the Tuesday immediately after my last day at CenturyLink, which was a Friday. So, I basically had a three day weekend and then started working somewhere new. The job is pretty great so far, nice people, nice manager, better money. At the moment, it's only a three month contract, but I'm replacing someone who was a full-time employee, and the manager has already said she wants by January, my position to turn into something full-time. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that. Even if that doesn't happen, the experience here - I'm at Blue Cross Blue Shield - is going to be pretty great. In Kansas City specifically, having some sort of medical and/or insurance experience on your resume is a big plus. And, I've gotten at least three calls for different contract jobs since I started this one, which hopefully means there's a demand for people like me and that if I'm looking again in January, I won't be unemployed for long.

The other good news is that since I actually finished my last day of work at CenturyLink, I get paid out my severance package. It wasn't great and had I not found something, it would've only kept us afloat for about two months. But, having found something else right away, I know that we can set that money aside, until I find something we know is a bit more stable. And if I have to be off for a bit between jobs, we'll have that around. I know not everyone has that opportunity, so I'm very grateful for it.

This job does have sort of big restrictions on internet and time, so I've been in the office 5 days a week with only basic email access and whatever I can get to on my phone. In fact, the other day, a guy I work with got yelled at by a manager for even having his email open during the day. So there's a bit of an old company mentality, which I find a little discouraging this day and age. But it's not so horrible, it just takes a little getting used to. It also means, I'm really, really struggling with time management as I adjust to the new job and everything I need/want to get done in a day.

Like, finishing my

originalbigbang story which is due soon. The story is /almost/ finished and about half edited. I'm banging my head in frustration at it though, because it's a very different writing style for me, but one I used because I felt it fit the story. Unfortunately, that means editing it has me tearing at my hair a little while I try to figure out what's necessary and what's not. I still also have to write the ending - and since I'm not yet quite sure HOW it ends, that's a problem. *shrugs* Nothing quite like a deadline to get me motivated.

I've got another post I want to do soon since we've had H at our house for two months now. And probably in the next day or so, I'll write something up for the Foster Years blog as well. We've had a few experiences as the honeymoon period wears off that's worth talking about.

Tags: family, work

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Hello Universe

: cherith; September 30th, 2011

Current Music:: Winston Tong - Lovers | Powered by Last.fm

Sometimes, even when you don't think people like you, they surprise you.

Monday, this guy that I used to work with, who got laid off in May, called me. He recently got a job and had been called about a second job that fit the work he and I are used to. He called me to ask if it was something I'd be interesting in, and if he could forward my information on to the guy about the job. Of course, I said yes.

Tuesday afternoon, I went in to talk to the contracting company - just a meet and greet sort of thing. Wednesday morning I had an interview for the job and then during the interview the woman pretty much said, I was hired. Now, she wanted me to start on Monday, but there's some sort of hold up with HR (isn't there always?) and it might be Wednesday or Thursday before I start the job.

But, this is amazing you guys. I can't even... I was always friendly with this ex co-worker, but I wouldn't have called him a friend. And in the same situation, I don't know that I would've done the same thing for him. Maybe I would've, I don't know. But, that he thought of me, and I got this job - it's a three month contract that they want to turn into a full-time employee position by January - and so QUICKLY... it's pretty amazing. I've just been flabbergasted by the whole thing.

But, typically, this is the way I've gotten my jobs. Nothing forever, and then when something comes along, it just happens fast.

Anyway. Today's my last day at my old job. I'm at home doing nothing, because there's not actually work for me to do. I'll go in around 2 this afternoon to turn in my laptop and badge, and clean out my desk. But, I'm not really sad about it. I've been there 7 years, and almost everyone is going away. I've been told it doesn't matter how badly they're going to need me in the coming months, they're not in a place to spend time trying to keep me. That's a pretty good indicator of their level of interest. Most of my friends have gone in previous layoff rounds, so there's little for me there aside from the fact that I like what I do.

My new job will be the same type of work, a little less responsibility and a little more pay. Sounds good to me - even if it's only really good for three months and it doesn't get extended. The only thing I worry about is going from a flexible work-at-home schedule to a full five day a week schedule in an office. The way my sleep habits have been the last year and a half or so, don't give me a lot of confidence, but I'll have to try it. And if it's only for three months, I can make it through that. If it's more, hopefully, I'll learn to adjust.

Tags: happy, random babble, work

I've done some things

: cherith; September 21st, 2011

Current Music:: Skin - Don't Let Me Down | Powered by Last.fm

First things first - my Yahoo email account was hacked. It's an old account and I suppose it had to happen sometime. I've notified customer service and changed the password, but if you got something from me from a yahoo account, I apologize. Hopefully, I'll have it all sorted out here soon.

Now back to the post I started writing yesterday:

Over on Tumblr much like here on LJ, drabble type fanfiction requested by friends/followers whatever has been popular in the Dragon Age fandom (and others I'm sure). I've written a few, but I kept wishing there was more and didn't always want to wait on people to submit requests. So, I talked to

martiniphilosph about it and asked if there was a way we could build a little javascript thing that would randomly assign pairings. I gave him a list to start with, he worked up the basic script and then I took it from there.

Yesterday, on Tumblr I tossed out the Dragon Age Random Pairing & Prompt Generator for character and suggestion help and got a pretty overwhelming response all things considered. I'm still adding to it, and making improvements. It's still pretty bare and simple, which is how I like it, though maybe I'll get the interest to actually put up a graphic or something. I've toyed with sticking an ad on it, since I know it's getting a lot of traffic, and I'm a about to be out of a job. But, for fandom, I just feel bad about putting an ad on it.

Anyway, late last night, I threw together a matching generator for Mass Effect though it's much less fleshed out than the Dragon Age one, being so new. Hopefully people will like that one as well.

---

Things to share: I know I've posted Bo Burnham stuff here before, but he's a comedian I really love. A very smart comedian, despite only being 20 years old. There's an interview with him up on the Nerdist.com that people should check out. Interview here.

Tags: comedy, dragon age, fandom, gaming

It's been a month already?

: cherith; September 13th, 2011

Current Mood:: grateful

We've had H for about a month now, which just doesn't nearly seem possible, because things are still going really well. There are signs of settling, we've not had any arguments or major issues, but there has been a bit of boundary pushing. Matt and I have been pretty permissive about things - letting her hang out with new friends, go down to her boyfriend's house, ect. But, a few times we've had to say no, and right now, that hasn't caused any major issues.

We're meeting with both workers (ours and hers) this week, so I'm a little nervous about those, having not had one with either since she came to us. But, I think they'll go well.

*crosses fingers*

---

PS for KANSAS CITY PEOPLE: This weekend is Bellydancer's Ball. I'll be the MC of the Saturday Night show (as per usual). If you're in the Kansas City area, the show is Saturday night at 7:30pm at the Westport Coffee House Theater and you should come. Tickets are available online at http://bellydancersball2011.eventbrite.com or at the door.

Tags: family

Mix: To Serve the King That's Good and Kind (Dragon Age)

: cherith; September 11th, 2011

Current Music:: Florence + The Machine - Hospital Beds | Powered by Last.fm

So,

serindrana wrote this great story called To Serve the King That's Good and Kind and while she was working on it, I kept coming up with songs that I thought would make a pretty good fanmix. When she finished it, I asked her for any songs she had while working on it, put them with mine and worked up a proper fanmix for it. This is what came out. Mostly it's chronological, but some of them are just sort of themey (totally a word).

If you want to know more about To Serve the King That's Good and Kind you can read it at that link over at AO3. Story summary below, tracklisting and download links behind the cut. Enjoy!

Summary: "He, who had been forced to drag himself along the bottom of society, craved the power she offered him. She, who had lost her ideals and the order of her life, clung to the structure he offered her." Two exiles meet in an Ostwick bar, one full of doubt and another without direction. Post-Origins, Alistair/Cauthrien.

( Tracklisting and Download link )

Tags: dragon age, fandom, link, music, music in the key of life

Mix - War is Never Cheap Here

: cherith; September 6th, 2011

Current Music:: Ben Sommers - Flaming Moon | Powered by Last.fm

Happy Tuesday. I haven't put one of these up in a long time, and I'm super please with how all the music for this turned out, so I hope people like it. It's a fanmix for the story that

serindrana and I have been working on. The story is up to chapter 6 (of what we think will be 12) and while we're taking a brief two week break, we decided to put this together. Musically, it's pretty close to what you'd expect of me - a little rock, a little soft and for this one, there's even some sort of dancey tunes mixed in.

If you want to get caught up while we're on a break (just another week) here's the current chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |5 | 6

( Track list and download link behind the cut )

Tags: dragon age, fandom, music, music in the key of life

So that happened.

: cherith; September 5th, 2011

Current Mood:: devious

Current Music:: Amon Tobin - Surge (Two Fingers Remix) | Powered by Last.fm

For no real reason, other than I've never done it before, and I'm having a ton of fun in the DA fandom right now, I decided to join the new DA Land community.

da_land You join a team (Mage, Rogue, Warrior) and then there's challenges to completely (written or images or whatnot) to earn your team points. I don't know, it sounded like a good idea at the time. Which may have been like 3am. But I'm there now.

Also, while I'm pimping DA fandom related things. I have two others. The RP Community I'm part of (and which I LOVE) is looking for more players. So, check it out here and there's a list of characters available, here. For the curious I am playing Aveline (and will be adding Cullen and Bann Teagan very soon).

And,

dearqueen is halfway through a two-week hiatus on new chapters while

serindrana and I take a break to work on some other things (hopefully one of them will turn into a story when "War is Never Cheap Here" ends). However, we put together a pretty awesome fanmix (something I haven't done much of - at all - this year. I'm pretty happy with it and she made some cool art for it. So, that'll happen tomorrow, and it'll be here, on

dearqueen and I'm betting Seri will put it up too.

---

Matt and I took H to shop for a Homecoming dress with my little sister this weekend. They both needed dresses, so my mom came up and we had lunch and went shopping. Both girls were fairly easy to please in the way of dresses and we got something H liked for really cheap. This whole high schooler thing is still a little bizarre, but so far there hasn't been anything too strange. She gets her homework (what little she has right now) done quickly or at school and is very communicative about just about everything.

Last night, we met my dad and step-mom and grandpa for my belated birthday dinner. It was nice and since it was the first time H was meeting them, it was good to be able to see the transition between how she was when she met some of our other family, and how she is now. She's far more confident than she was before, and I think she feels like part of the family - or at least she acts like she does. Today, Matt's parents came out and bought her some basic school clothes, mostly jeans. And then they just hung out at the house for a bit. H called them (and my parents) grandma and/or grandpa, just like she calls us Mom & Dad. It takes a little getting used to, but I think it helps everyone feel a bit more connected.

---

I still have 4 Google Music invites if people want them. (US Only - although if you know how to reroute from out of the US to get your IP checked as a US one, then that works. I believe GMusic only does the check once, so once you're in, you're in.)

Tags: dragon age, family, gaming, writing

Home from PAX

: cherith; August 31st, 2011

Current Mood:: energetic

Current Music:: Euji Acha - Mechanist | Powered by Last.fm

It's been a bit of a crazy week. Went to PAX and hung out with some cool people, like

naeko and hyperbali. And my lovely GA girls too. It wasn't nearly long enough, especially since I had to get up at about 4am on Sunday morning to make my 6am flight. Thankfully, it meant I was home by like 1:30pm on Sunday, which was nice since it was my birthday. It would've sucked to have spent my whole birthday on a plane.

As we landed back in KC, my mom was texting me to meet at my Grandparents (my grandpa and I share a birthday) so we went over and had some ice cream with them. I hadn't been up for people after all the travelling, but it was nice to get to introduce the grandparents to H and spend some birthday time with them.

Speaking of birthdays, my RP friends made me some cool Dragon Age things that are worth sharing.

nomoreprinces wrote me Isabela/Aveline here.

serindrana wrote me Alistair fic (warning for darkfic)here
and

firstblush drew me Isabela/Aveline
So much <3 for these awesome things (and the people that made them for me, obviously).

Seriously, when I was sitting alone in the airport, checking my email in the hopes there'd be something good in it, and I found the email from

firstblush with that picture in it, it totally made my day. Good Birthday.

---

While I was at PAX, Matt spent the weekend with H and things were good, and have been since I came home. Though it's early (too early) to start thinking about it realistically, we've both talked about being interested in pursuing adoption. She's only just been in school a week though (and already has a boyfriend) so we're just sort of getting started.

---

I have 6 invites for Google Music if people are interested. If I don't already have your gmail address, I'll need that to invite you.

Tags: birthday, dragon age, family, vacation

Dreams.

: cherith; August 24th, 2011

Current Mood:: groggy

Current Music:: Tim Berg - Seek Bromance (Cazette meets Ash Vocal Mix) | Powered by Last.fm

Matt tells me this morning that I was talking in my sleep this morning. Something like, "The blood test has to be redone. We need the right blood for the test."

I'm pretty sure I was dreaming up a story I want to write about a Blood Mage, but I don't talk (at least coherently) in my sleep very often, so this amuses me a great deal and I wish I could actually remember what that dream was about more than the vague - I'm pretty sure it was a Blood Mage thing.

Unfortunately, I can't write that until after I finish my OFBB story. Soon though.

---

In other news, I have a teenager now in high school. o.0

Tags: dreams, family, writing

Living in much different times

: cherith; August 23rd, 2011

Current Mood:: blah

We still have a 15 year old. So far, so good. I'll have more up on the Foster Years blog on things soon. I'm trying to be respectful of privacy and what not and if I talk about it here - I'd have the urge to do it less than anonymously as I probably should be - which is why I'm trying to keep it separate over there. But, feel free to ask if you have questions.

---

Our internet has been going in and out for about two weeks now. I've had both our modem and our cable box replaced (we thought the cable box was also having issues but they might be related problems) and it's still dropping at weird times and staying out for too long each time. I called, and was supposed to have an appointment today, but so far, no cable guy and his appointment time has come and gone. We're planning to leave here in a little bit, so I'm waiting to call until later tonight when I can schedule another appointment.

Right now, it's increasingly difficult to make plans for anything though when I'm trying to iron out plans for this weekend - which is PAX Prime. I'll be headed to Seattle Thursday afternoon and coming home on my birthday, Sunday, at like 6am, which is ridiculously early. However, this will mean, I'll get the best of PAX, and be home at a somewhat reasonable time on Sunday in order to enjoy some of my birthday with Matt and H.

On the writing front, since the novel isn't happening, I've turned my attention back to my

originalbigbang which is probably where my attention should've been long before now. I'm about halfway done (I think, I hope) and I'm really pleased with what I've done so far, even though it's a big departure writing-wise from other stuff I've done. It's very stylistic - I wanted to try something new - but I like it and I hope other people will when it's finished. Hopefully I'll have enough time to get the second half done before the rough draft is due (I think with travel time, I will).

Tags: family, vacation, writing

God's Away on Business

: cherith; August 18th, 2011

Current Mood:: indescribable

We have a girl. She got here about 10pm last night and so far, so good. (More on the Foster Years blog)

Also, this needs to be shared:

Tags: family, video

Best thing

: cherith; August 12th, 2011

Current Location:: United States, Kansas, Edwardsville

Current Mood:: blank

Current Music:: Nina Simone - Backlash Blues | Powered by Last.fm

So, I have a whole list of bad things I want to talk about after my good things post from the other day. However, despite this good news I want to share, yesterday was a pretty crap day for me. So, I'm trying to avoid thinking about the bad things (most of which are things I need to get done) for at least today to make up for yesterday. Anyhow.

The best news I have to share: WE PASSED.

Matt and I passed our state walkthrough yesterday. Which means, as soon as the paperwork is submitted, we're officially licensed foster parents. *HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF*

We heard such horror stories about how people rarely pass their first time through. And it's true, it's hard. We still have a few things we have to fix, but they weren't pressing items, so she passed us with notes on the things we need to adjust. I'm just... still so flabbergasted that we passed on the first try.

So. Next comes actually bringing in kids. I'm probably not going to post about every placement opportunity going forward. But, I will be putting up stuff on the Foster Years blog I have, if people are interested.

---

I don't do this often (in fact I don't know when I've ever done this) but on Tumblr today, I posted a request. As mentioned, I'm trying to get my head in the right place today - especially since I have to start looking for a job. Like now. So, I'm asking for some good things from my friends. Here's the request I posted on Tumblr:

Ask Me/ Tell Me/ Inspire Me
So, because I would like today to be a better day than yesterday was - I’m asking for some help. I would appreciate a little love - Ask me something fun, send me something fun, or try to inspire me a with fun idea to get me through the day.

(If the latter - I’ll do my best to share whatever comes of it.)

<3 In advance. (And thanks.)

Or, you can go read Chapter 4 of War is Never Cheap Here when it goes up at

dearqueen or AO3 today.

Tags: family, friends, good news, headache, writing

MORE STORY TIME

: cherith; August 2nd, 2011

Current Mood:: excited

Current Music:: Evanescence - Lies | Powered by Last.fm

First - HAPPY BIRTHDAY to

serindrana my co-writing crimefighter. :D

We've posted two chapters at

dearqueen of War is Never Cheap Here and the third (my absolute favorite chapter so far) on Friday (while I'm out of town). Chapter One and Chapter Two I'm proud of this story so far and super excited to get the third chapter up because I think people are really going to like it. Or I hope they do. As part of the writing and editing process I've also put together a really silly thing - which are Teagan's parodies of Cauthrien's letters to the queen. (Usually I come up with bits and pieces while we're writing the story - especially serious scenes). Anyhow - they're also good recaps of the previous chapters. There's two so far: one and two.

I'll be at GenCon starting tomorrow (whenever we get into Indianapolis tomorrow night) and most likely be around when Chapter Three gets posted. But I recommend reading it. Really.

---

Also, expect another post soon with a Foster Care update.

Tags: fanfic, serindrana, writing

I DIDN'T GET THE MEMO

: cherith; July 29th, 2011

Current Location:: edwardsville, ks

Current Mood:: aggravated

Yesterday morning seemed fine. But by the afternoon, I think it was pretty clear that I missed some sort of drama-day memo. And then reading my LJ flist (once it was back up) it seemed like people are just on high alert today.

First. *hugs* to all of you that had crap days.

Second. I'm super tired of the LJ is dead. Oh woe type comments about either the DDoS (yes I know it sucks - but an attack that big would take out just about any site, LJ just happens to be a good target) and also about the state of people not using LJ anymore. Each time I have friends leave the site to go elsewhere, I may or may not lose touch with them a little because I still cling to LJ pretty closely. But just because some people are going doesn't mean it's dead. There's still a plenty large community here. Now maybe your specific group of friends has started using it less and less - that happens. Though, I do have to question the correlation between people who make those comments and then only ever post on their own LJ once every month or two and very rarely comment on anyone elses. I mean just as with most social media (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr) LJ can be just as much about interaction as reaction. The difference being quality over quantity. LJ may have less people, but it tends to have more in-depth posts. It is after all, a blogging service, not a micro-status update.

Maybe that doesn't help me make friends and influence people, but I keep seeing it from people, and it bugs me every time. So.

Third. As my own personal drama yesterday, Matt and I received notice that we're official under investigation by the health department to FINALLY get our temporary license which could take 60-90 days. JOY. Seeing as how our temp worker was supposed to submit our paperwork three months ago, this news is equal parts awesome and frustrating.

Fourth. I am performing my very first bellydance solo tonight. The Unicorn Theater on Main St. at 8pm. It's part of the Troupe Duende show for the KC Fringe Festival and it's $10. I'm hella nervous. It's not my first ever performance, so perhaps I would be more nervous if it was. But, still my first solo is pretty cool and I'm excited to get it done and out of my system. :D Now that LJ has posted this - it is over. I HAVE performed my first solo and despite my nervousness, I hear I did a great job. Also, Matt caught some video (which is badly lit and not suitable for anyone other than me) but I have watched it and can confirm that I at least feel positive about my performance. So there's that.

~~Fifth (and Last, for now). I have 2 invites for Google Music. If you want them, first come, first served.~~ Invites are gone for now. However, if you have not signed up for the beta and want one, there might be more on the way. So let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Tags: family, friends, life, livejournal, music, random babble

War is Never Cheap Here

: cherith; July 22nd, 2011

Current Location:: United States, Kansas, Kansas City

Current Mood:: happy

Current Music:: Killswitch Engage - Rise Inside | Powered by Last.fm

I'm pretty proud of this and even if I don't mention my own fanfiction here a ton (not that there's a lot of it) I'm making an exception for this.

One of the (many) things

serindrana and I have been working on is a story called "War is Never Cheap Here". We've created a journal for the purposes of posting said story, because it's going to be pretty big. The journal is

dearqueen and Chapter One is up today. We've already got a schedule set (with a buffer of chapters) to post. And there's going to be some other fun stuff in between the regular story chapters.

Anyhow.

"War is Never Cheap Here" (AO3) is a Dragon Age story with Bann Teagan and Ser Cauthrien.
You can read Chapter One here at

dearqueen
There will be a bonus piece posted next Tuesday, and then Chapter Two will be posted next Friday (and that should be the regular schedule until it's finished - estimating about 10 chapters for this story).

Like I said, I'm pretty proud of it. And I hope you read it.

Tags: dragon age, fanfic, gaming, serindrana, writing

My childhood, let me show you it

: cherith; July 20th, 2011

Current Location:: United States, Kansas, Kansas City

Monday night, I took my dad (as a father's day gift) to see Yes & Styx in concert.

Let me repeat. YES & STYX.

If you just said, awesome. Then, yes, you would be correct. This show was everything I could've hoped for out of a show like this and more. I mean. It's been years since I've been to a sort of classic rock band type concert. It was 90+ degrees and outside (and not always in the shade) when we first got there, and when the opener (some guy named Shane Alexander) went on. And still, that didn't make it any less awesome.

By the time Yes started, it was all shade, all the time, there was a decent breeze and we had center seats - center from the top down, center from side-to-side. Technically, our seats were further down, but where we ended up sitting was way better (the entire row was empty - that hadn't sold it for tech purposes, and then the tech booths got moved) and had a better breeze. If we had sat in our seats we would've been 10 rows down, at the end of a whole family - complete with little kids and on the inside of a section, so very little breeze. I think we made the right decision.

Also, let me say that while I wanted to see Yes more, and I thought they were amazing... I was totally blown away by Styx. I mean. I like them as a band, but they knocked it out of the park. Just awesome.

So much of the whole show was me sort of looking at my dad and thinking - I remember you playing this for me. Or I remember singing this with you. Or I remember you playing this in your old truck when we were driving around town. Just memories that we don't share often.

My dad gave me the love for music that I have. I believe that. And it's been YEARS since we've been to a concert together. Probably since before I graduated college. So, to have this with him, was pretty cool.

Tags: family, music

Trail Fail

: cherith; July 19th, 2011

So, Sunday I got to ride in ambulance. A friend who has taken up running and signed up for a trail run was out at the park Sunday running and got overheated and possible a case of heat exhaustion. Her husband and I went to rescue her, but not realizing how far on the trail she was, or how long it would take to get back... we didn't really go in prepared. I was wearing jeans and a black shirt, and we only took water for her to drink (and not a ton at that). She was about a mile or so in on the trail and it was 100+ with a fuck ton of humidity. Like it has been nearly every day recently.

I was near passing out myself on the way back. We called the park rangers, hoping they might be able to drive us up to my car. Instead, they automatically dispatched an ambulance. I tried to tell them we didn't want that, but once it's out, it's out. They were nice enough however to drive us back to the car (no charge). But still huge mess. And I felt like a horrible rescuer for also feeling poorly.

I took a good nap when I got back home because my brain felt fried. However, I still have blisters on my feet for not having on good shoes. (Trail fail.)

Tags: friends, health

I SHOULD NOT BE NOSTALGIC

: cherith; July 13th, 2011

Current Mood:: busy

Current Music:: Sweeney Todd Movie Cast - Final Scene | Powered by Last.fm

Nick at Night, is planning to resuscitate some of it's 90's fare. Like "Doug" and "The Adventures of Pete and Pete" and "Clarissa Explains it All" and yet, I'm way more excited about this than I should be. As in, I'm considering setting the DVR to record some of these shows as they air in the wee hours.

Now, I if I could just get some DVDs for things like "Are You Afraid of the Dark" or "Roundhouse" (two of the shows that aren't on the lineup) I'd be all set.

Tags: random babble, tv

Love a good day off

: cherith; July 10th, 2011

Current Location:: United States, Kansas, Kansas City

Current Mood:: cheerful

Yesterday

shadowfell and I had a girls day out. We drove around and investigated a game store, a yarn shop and a nearly abandoned outlet mall. All in all it was a good day, and I came home with some books, and a new wrap skirt/dress thing. <3 It feels like it's been forever since I had some time out like that, let alone with her, so it was a good day.

In the meantime, I've been writing with

serindrana. Last night we figured out in the past two weeks we've written like 4300 words a day, every day. Which is like 123k in two weeks totally. That's a lot of words and I've been boggling at the word count since we hit 100k earlier in the week.

The game store that

shadowfell and I hit yesterday was 31st Century Games and Hobby out in Olathe, which I had never heard of or seen before. Overall, it was a really cool store - bigger and better than some other game stores in the area. However, they were having some sort of game day or day at the store when we walked in. There seemed to be a momentary o.0 GIRLS! moment in the store but for the most part the general group ignored us. Still, I walked away with the new Dominion expansion - Cornucopia and knowledge of a well-stocked new store. *shrugs* I only wish that their little used comic section had had the trade book for Fables #2 - because I'm on the lookout.

And today was a nice lazy day at home complete with sleeping in and more writing.

---

Friday I got an email from our social worker! She's back from her maternity leave and is FINALLY submitting our info. I really don't know what her replacement was doing, but I told her I was glad she was back. Hopefully this really means we'll be at least getting our temp. license and working on full licensing before the end of summer.

Tags: family, friends, random babble, writing

Never Felt Like Any Blessing

: cherith; June 30th, 2011

Current Location:: United States, Kansas, Edwardsville

Current Mood:: hyper

Current Music:: Florence + the Machine - Heavy In Your Arms | Powered by Last.fm

Having been uploading for what -- 2 weeks now, Google Music now has 7100 of my 9k+ library. It's loading backwards, so I'm somewhere in the 'E's right now. It hasn't been a constant upload process, so it's not all them. Not too mention, I'm guessing Time Warner is penalizing us bandwidth wise because of it *shrugs* Another week and it should be done. (And it'll be worth it.)

Speaking of music. I've listed to Florence + The Machine's "Heavy in Your Arms" 46 times in the past, 3 days? I think. Oh Beth/Cullen dramatic RP. <3

serindrana

Speaking of the Dragon Age RP,

serindrana and I have managed something like 33k of writing in the past, 3 or 4 days thanks to some pretty crazy Bethany/Cullen muse action. I haven't written like this in a long time, and it's giving me motivation to work on other stuff, both fan and original. Not too mention it's super fun. I'm glad I signed up. :)

There is likely to be some sort of fanmix soon at the rate we're going.

---

I went in to the see the doctor Tuesday morning. He stopped filling my thyroid prescription because I hadn't been in for lab work in a while. I needed to go anyway -- so he drew blood for labs, and then I got a cortisone shot for my stupid allergies and was out of there.

For the past, I don't know, 2 weeks or so, I've been having this weird sensation of smelling or tasting smoke where this is none - and no possibility of a smoke smell. Sounds like sinus issues, and the doctor agreed, hence the cortisone shot to keep my allergies in check. I have noticed a difference. But DUDE phantom smells (especially persistent ones) likely to drive a person insane.

Tags: dragon age, fanfic, health, roleplaying, writing

Feedback Loop

: cherith; June 27th, 2011

Current Location:: United States, Kansas, Edwardsville

Current Mood:: chipper

Current Music:: Colm Wilkinson - Bring Him Home | Powered by Last.fm

I'm feeling pretty good after this weekend. Matt and I went down to Maker Faire at Union Station on Saturday with

effulgent_inara and her husband. It was pretty cool to see all the interesting things people are getting themselves up to here in Kansas City. And I'm just beside myself with the idea of a Maker Bot (http://makerbot.com). I don't even know what I'd make with it yet that would justify the expensive, but I sure as hell want one.

Also this weekend, a friend introduced me to Door-to-Door Organics, a company that delivers (mostly local) organic food to your door. They've got several size options to choose from, and with her referral, my first order was 50% off. So, I signed Matt and I up, and we should get our first order tomorrow. I already know what we're getting, but I'm still excited to see it when it gets here.

In good news, the PAX Panel for PAX Prime that I've been asked to sit on, has been approved! So, I will be a panelist on a panel called "Infinite Respawn: How Gaming Can Keep & Save Your Relationship" hosted by @leftybrown of The Married Gamers. I'm super excited about this. A little nervous, knowing that the PAX panels are like 3 times the size of the one I was on at GenCon last year. So, that's going to be pretty interesting. o.0

Tags: conference, food, gaming, gamingangels, random babble

Not yet to 3k

: cherith; June 22nd, 2011

Current Location:: United States, Kansas, Overland Park

Current Music:: To/Die/For - I Just Want You | Powered by Last.fm

So, I've been letting Google do it's uploady thing off and on over the past four or five days, and I'm close, but not quite to having 3k of my 9k+ song library uploaded. I can only imagine what this is doing for the people paid to analyze usage for Time Warner.

Matt and I went to see Steven Sonheim's Company last night. It's the current Broadway cast with NPH, Stephen Colbert, Christina Hendricks and Pattie LuPone. Can I just say - WOW. We got to see it because it's been shown down at the movie theater near our house. Tickets were more pricey than regular movie tickets, but considering the flight + tickets to NYC to see it, I'll take it. I was impressed by the whole thing, but holy Christina Hendricks man. Jaw to floor.

Speaking of music things. If you're interested in folksy indie type music, you should check out http://megankeely.bandcamp.com/ It's good stuff.

If you're not, but want something fun to listen to - the entire cast album for the Broadway show, The Book of Mormon is streaming over at Facebook. If you don't know, The Book of Mormon is a musical written by the guys responsible for South Park (plus Robert Lopez who did Avenue Q). This religious zealotry at it's funniest - and to be fair, it's really, really well done. This is not shock value theater. http://www.facebook.com/TheBookOfMormonOnBroadway

---

Yesterday I had to write an email about part of my current job responsibilities and it had to not sound like I was begging for my job, or like I didn't want to turn it over. I do want to keep my job, but I'm not going to force them to keep me. However, it is a salient point that without me, there's jobs that aren't going to get done (because they don't think they need to replace me at the moment). I sent the email out to my old supervisor who said it sounded good, factual and he managed to understand the point I was making. I sent it out to it's intended recipients, but haven't heard back. This is the first time I'm really making a case for them to keep me post September 30th, so I'm a little nervous. But, I've got time still and it's not stopping me from looking elsewhere.

Tags: music, musicals, random babble, work

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Troubling Dream

: cherith; June 17th, 2011

Current Location:: United States, Kansas City

Current Mood:: drained

Current Music:: Katie Melua - Shy Boy | Powered by Last.fm

I have started the very time intensive task of uploading my 9k+ song library to Google Music. If they're going to give me the space, I'm going to use it. :)

---

Last night, I taught a sock class (my first class in like two months) and was exhausted when I came home. I ended up going to bed way early (for me) and then had a horrible night sleeping. It's been raining off and on here in KC all week, so my head is having a difficult time adjusting to the pressure changes. My head hurt in the night and gave me some pretty screwed up dreams and then woke me up about every two hours. Sometime around midnight I woke up after having a dream in which I found out that Matt and I had been placed on some sort of 'contention' list (doesn't exist) for people that want to adopt.

So the story in the dream went like this - I went to visit some friends I hadn't seen in several years (a gay friend and his partner). Many years back when I'd last seen them, according to my dream, Matt and I had helped them, by giving our recommendation, to adopt a baby girl. In the years since we'd seen them, they had broken up, and my friend's partner had given the girl up, and told some wild story to the social worker that meant anyone involved in the adoption were placed on some sort of 'contention list' (like a warning that those people shouldn't be allowed to adopt). When I found this out in the dream I pretty much went ballistic and beat the ever-loving crap out of this friend's former partner. Then I woke up because I'd pretty much worked myself up into an actual physical emotional state -- not just pissed in the dream.

Throughout the night, I was still so mad -- mostly at myself for having such a stupid dream -- that I kept waking up every two hours. Continuing to have a migraine throughout the night did not help matters either.

I hate those kinds of dreams.

Tags: bad day, dreams

Work and other updates

: cherith; June 16th, 2011

Current Location:: United States, Kansas, Overland Park

Current Mood:: giggly

Current Music:: Mindless Self Indulgence - Pussy All Night | Powered by Last.fm

I just finished writing up a giant email to my new "supervisor" with all of my job responsibilities as well as the ones I'll be taking on for a guy that's leaving in 6 days. When I was finished I was both proud of everything I've been given, because it really is a lot. But, I was also disappointed because I do feel like it's a lot of things, and important things to the business at that, and they're just getting rid of me in three months. I know now that they've decided to keep the database I work with at least through next year, there's potential Sept. 30th won't be my last day. But still.

Also, I'm a little uncertain about my new "supervisor" (I say so with quotes because not only do I not trust him, but he's my boss in title only, they haven't changed the info with HR, and he has no idea how to actually manage me). I sent him all this information, but I feel like it's just going to go into a void and not be used to prove to anyone that what I do is worthwhile. In someone else's hands, it could be a pretty powerful advocate for my job. I just don't know who that person is (aside from myself). So, I kept the copy I sent off: 1) for proof that I sent it, and on this day and 2) so that when I figure out who best to give it to, I have it already and 3) for potential use when applying for jobs.

In other things.

I know I've mentioned my love for the comic, A Softer World here before. Well, there's been a ton of people using their comics for other things, most recently, Matt pointed me to this one: A Doctor World. It's pretty perfect.

Also, last week (or the week before, I can't remember) I got my Google Music invite, and I'm loving it. There's a GreaseMonkey script so that I can scrobble music from Google to Last.fm which makes me super happy (and one of the only reasons I have stuck with Google Music). So far, it's worked smoothly for me. I've uploaded all the music from both my work and home laptops. I haven't started uploading anything from my massive collection on my main PC because well, that's like 50+ gigs (I almost wrote giggles there) of music, ~~and though it doesn't say there's a limit on GMusic,~~ it does make me nervous. Though, no less nervous than having all my music on a 2 TB USB drive with no real backup. I just saw that there's a 20k song max on GMusic. Oh Happy Day.

Seriously, the thought of losing my music is enough to make me have a tiny panic attack. *deep breaths*

There's an Instant Mix option (sort of a Pandora type thing) where you pick a song and GMusic creates a 25 song playlist of songs that are similar. THIS IS HAPPY MAKING for music nerds like me. I suspect I'll be getting a ton of use out of it.

Tags: bad day, comics, music, tv, work

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Nothing to Report

: cherith; June 9th, 2011

Current Location:: United States, Kansas, Overland Park

Current Mood:: numb

People keep asking me how things are going with the Foster Care and Adoption processes. And I'm tired of having to say that they're not -- progressing, that is. In fact, all this time, I've thought we've been waiting for our temporary license to arrive. But, that's not the case. In fact, our temporary social worker hasn't even sent in all our paperwork yet to apply us for the temp. license; something that I just found out this Monday when she emailed me that she still needed a few things, things I had already turned in.

At this point, I don't think anything is going to happen until our actual worker gets back from her maternity leave, which is in a little less than a month now. So that's going on.

In the meantime, I've been applying for jobs as they crop up, because while it seems the possibility of me staying on past my "planned last day worked" (as they call it) is becoming more and more likely; I need to get out of here. I had a half-hour meeting with my supervisor yesterday during which his only answers were, "Well, I don't really know..." No, of course you don't know -- you've made it abundantly clear you have no interest in helping anyone other than yourself, or trying to figure out what's going on with the work that's going to be needed past my LDW.

So, it seems until I get called in for interviews, I'm stuck here, with not much going on.

Tags: bad day, family, jobs, work

The Inevitable.

: cherith; May 26th, 2011

Current Location:: United States, Kansas, Overland Park

Current Mood:: stressed

Before the bad news, let me share a link to NPR - Eddie Vedder's new Ukelele album which is something I'm really enjoying this morning. Well, that and the massage I just got. I'm really going to miss the regular chair massages at the office.

On to bad news. The hammer finally came down at work yesterday. Several people, myself included were given their final 'end date' with the company. Basically, this means I've been laid off, but my last day isn't until the end of September. Basically I've been waiting for this to happen for more than a year now -- not to get fired, but to get some finalization on my job whether I was staying or going. It's good to finally know, but after 7 and a half years here, I don't really want to go either. I was pretty much a mess all day yesterday.

People have been saying that it's good I have until September because it gives me plenty of time to look for something new. And I suppose it is good, but right now it just feels like a giant kick in the face.

Tags: bad day, work

No Good, Very Bad

: cherith; May 24th, 2011

Current Location:: United States, Kansas City

Current Mood:: frustrated

Current Music:: Sigur Rós - Viðrar vel til loftárása | Powered by Last.fm

Today has been a bad day. I wasn't feeling good last night, so I ended up staying up way past my bedtime. Then, woke up for work (though at home) and have pretty much have been tired and cranky all day.

Add to this the added stress of a boss asking for things I don't have, not because I haven't done them, but because people haven't supplied me with the things necessary with which to do them.

Then, there's the whole Windows Live ID/Xbox.com thing that is seriously pissing me off. I discovered last week that my hotmail account is blocked. Why? I don't know, it doesn't say. No amount of password reset tries can fix it - and since this is hooked to my Xbox LIVE account, this is kind of a big deal for me. I can still log in and play games on my account, but I can't access the hotmail part of it - which is how you log in to Xbox.com. I made a new ID in the hopes I could log onto my Xbox, and change which address is associated there. Unfortunately, you can't do that without being able to log into the old ID.

So, I've been calling both Xbox support and Windows support. There is STRANGE difference between these two. Windows live support is AWFUL. Their web support is formulated responses -- so no matter how many times I fill out there little form, I don't think they'll ever verify my account and reset my password. Their phone service is convoluted - you can't talk to a person about your password unless you're a paying MSN customer. If you try to - they yell at you and tell you to go to the website. If you try and find someone else to talk to, you'll get hung up on. And the entire system is voice commands, so if it doesn't recognize what you're saying, it hangs up on you. It's awful and frustrating and so different from the nice, pleasant (though useless) help I've been getting from the Xbox people.

I spent a good chuck of time looking for my old phone number (the one I know is associated with my Xbox account) and with that, attempted to fill out their meaningless form one more time. If that doesn't work, I think I'm just going to cry. At that point, my option is tossing my 10k+ gamerscore Xbox account. Or continuing to play on it, and hoping I never ever ever need anything that I have to sign in for.

It's now a quarter to four, and I haven't had lunch. So I think I'm going to do that.

Tags: bad day, gaming

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Delicate Retrieval, a Reverse Big Bang story

: cherith; May 22nd, 2011

Current Location:: United States, Kansas City

Below is a story I wrote to accompany artwork by

dwg as part of a Reverse challenge for the

originalbigbang community. For those of you that don't know what that means, a small explanation: members of the community created a piece of artwork, and other people (myself included) picked an image we liked and wrote a story inspired by the image. I haven't done a lot of writing of any kind, let alone original stuff lately, so this was a fun exercise. It only needed to be about a thousand words, but once I had an idea going, I ended up doubling that. I'm pretty pleased with the results.

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( Delicate Retrieval )

Tags: big bang, writing

Notes on Media

: cherith; May 20th, 2011

Current Location:: United States, Kansas City

Current Mood:: dorky

Late night post to clear some browser tabs. :)

Fanfic peoples - Check out the Apocalypse Comment Ficathon Something for everyone, definitely.

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I don't remember where I saw this link today, but Discover Magazine has an article About Pixar Movies and how all their movies have some sort of underlying theme to help program us to be better people -- except it's not quite like that. YES, I'll admit that a lot of their movies have a similar theme -- but when you look at the majority of kids movies out there -- you're going to start seeing the same theme over and over. It's part and parcel of writing children's stories; we want our kids to grow up to be better people. I don't think it's any sort of conspiracy on Pixar's part, and even if it was, there are worse things people could use movies to inspire the human race towards. Just Saying.

And I hope by now most of you have seen this - but sharing because it's still fun: The CDC's guide to surviving a Zombie Apocalypse

Tags: fanfic, ficathon, movies

Summer Plans

: cherith; May 19th, 2011

I had planned on going to E3 in LA this summer. I missed last year, and I really really REALLY want to get back to LA for an event. But, about a month ago when I started looking at my time off, and the FMLA available for Adoption and Foster Care, I realized that any time I take off is going to be unpaid -- unless I have vacation days left. So, since E3 is basically an entire week for me (with press events Monday and Tuesday), I had to say no again this year.

However, Matt and I will still be going to GenCon in August, and I've already made plans to attend PAX Prime in Seattle at the end of August as well. These two trips equal the same amount of time off as E3, but it's spaced out (a little) and I'll feel better about my time available if I need to be home to care for a kid.

Hopefully, I'll be able to squeeze a weekend trip or two in over the summer -- but mostly, I'm just hoping Matt and I finally get called about kids sometime soon. I think that alone would make for good summer plans, especially if we're talking adoption. For an older kid (school aged, I mean) we'd have a lot of time during the summer to get acquainted before having to settle into a school routine for the fall.</p>

Tags: family, gaming, vacation

Gaming Links and News

: cherith; May 18th, 2011

Current Music:: Opeth - Beneath the Mire | Powered by Last.fm

I have no idea how it escaped me to post this here. But, now that I'm thinking about it, I should do so.

Last week at GamingAngels we announced a scholarship for girls (ages 8 to 18) to go to National Computer Camp for a week (about a $1000 value). All the girls have to do is write an essay about their favorite video game an send it in to scholarship@gamingangels.com to enter. Entrants can be located anywhere in the world, but the essay has to be written in English, and travel arrangements are no provided.

This is one of the biggest things I think we've done since we launched the site, and one of the goals we've had for the past 6ish years. We want to offer more scholarships in the future -- anything we can do to help women get into the video game and technical sectors. There's more details on the website if you want to know more.

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Also gaming related is a survey for a new game that's about to go into beta testing. A friend forwarded this to me, and asked if there are non-US people that can take the survey, that'd be a help. Head over here to take it, it only takes a few minutes.

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Thinking about picking up LA Noire tonight. I haven't been playing anything else recently and would welcome a good new game to get lost in. I was hoping to pick it up on the PS3 because the Xbox version comes on 3 discs versus 1 disc, but with all the Playstation controversy lately, I don't think that's going to happen. So, I'll suffer through all the disc-changing.

And just for fun, I'm going to leave you with a link to the 8-bit version of the Murder She Wrote theme song. Enjoy!

Tags: gaming, gamingangels

LJ Double Posting

: cherith; May 18th, 2011

Current Music:: Murder by Death - Piece by Piece | Powered by Last.fm

Is anyone else having issues with LiveJournal double-posting comments to entries? It's happened to me a couple of times (mostly on my own journal) and it's pretty annoying.

Tags: livejournal, question

A scattered migraine-y update

: cherith; May 18th, 2011

Current Location:: United States, Kansas City

So, I've got this link to NY Magazine: And I Should Know by Roseanne Barr. She's always been a favorite of mine, I mean, I wasn't quite old enough to know her stand-up before her TV show, but I do love it. And this article gives a whole new insight into her, her show, and some of the people in TV right now. Well worth the read.

I talked awhile back about the concert

shadowfell and I went to where Beats Antique played. Dumptruck Butterlips was one of the 3 openers and were amazing. They don't have music for sale, yet, though I've been told they're going into the studio soon to make an actual record. However, that link up there, is to a recent live set they did, which has the same songs we heard during the Beats Antique concert -- so you can hear some of what we heard that night. Pretty cool.

Yesterday, I received an email with some Xbox LIVE points, and when I went to log into my account on Xbox.com, I found out my Windows Live ID has been blocked. Not sure what happened, or how, but I've spent the past two days trying to get it fixed. I can still sign into my Xbox, so I don't think it's been hacked -- but it's an old hotmail account, so I'm wondering if it got closed for inactivity or something. Problem is the Windows Live customer service is HORRIBLE. Xbox Support people are totally nice, and I've been chatting with one on twitter all day seeing if they can help me. For one, there's no phone number to contact if you have trouble with your Windows Live account. Apparently, you can call them, but they'll tell you can't help and that you have to do EVERYTHING on the help website. Which would be great if it worked. Took me three times before the reset password form would work, and I finished that around noon today, and still haven't heard back from anyone. Not happy.

The pulled muscle or whatever I did to my leg over the weekend, still isn't better. I'm really sad about missing what was supposed to be my first week back to dance class yesterday. And today, it hurt just as bad every time I walked, or stretched that muscle in any way. Hopefully, this doesn't take as long to heal as my foot has (which is fine now as long as I don't walk/stand on it for too long).

Tags: gaming, health, link, music

6 years, 8 years

: cherith; May 16th, 2011

Current Location:: United States, Kansas City

Current Mood:: happy

Matt and I spent the weekend in Omaha, as a very belated anniversary vacation, and Saturday we spent 5 or so hours walking around the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. I'd never been, but heard good things, and since it's relatively close to KC (about 3 hours or so). It was totally worth the trip, their exhibits are pretty amazing. We took a ton of pictures, most of which made it to Flickr already -- though it looks like my upload missed some. You can check out the whole set on Flickr. I even managed to get some really good pictures in the Night Exhibit without using the flash.

This one, might be my absolute favorite of them all. And when we were in the reptile area, this big guy came right up to the glass to say hello as I leaned down to take a picture. And Matt managed to get this really awesome shot when we were in the Butterfly house.

The zoo trip wasn't all great. Towards the end of the day, we decided to take the sky tram back towards the entrance. When we got off the sky tram, my legs and feet were on fire. Something about how I was sitting, or my legs were dangling off the seat, I'm not sure, but something just lit them up. I could barely walk to get out of the way of the bench as we got off. I sat on a bench for a while, and my feet got better but it wasn't great. Sunday, I woke up with a super sore calf muscle, and I'm not sure if it's related, or if it's just a result of walking on a not-completely-healed foot for 5 hours. Still, well worth the trip to such an awesome zoo.

Tags: animals, family, vacation

From Twitter 05-15-2011

: cherith; May 16th, 2011

( It has been decided in your favor. )

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From Twitter 05-14-2011

: cherith; May 15th, 2011

( It has been decided in your favor. )

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From Twitter 05-13-2011

: cherith; May 14th, 2011

( It has been decided in your favor. )

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From Twitter 05-12-2011

: cherith; May 13th, 2011

( It has been decided in your favor. )

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Link/Video Round-up

: cherith; May 12th, 2011

Current Location:: United States, Overland Park

Current Mood:: okay

Current Music:: Chevreuil - Tonnerre mécanique | Powered by Last.fm

I've come bearing links today. Oh, and a video.

Alternet has two articles worth the read today. One, about the influence of a Indian, specifically Hindu, religion on modern-day religious (or non-religious as the case may be) thought. More on why "non-religious" (athiest, agnostic and humanist) is becoming a more popular preference

The other is about the Slut Walks that are sort of popping up all over the world and how women are trying not only to reclaim the word, but to take a stand against the victim blaming attitude that somehow anything other than the rapist is responsible for the rape of a woman.

For you TV fans, the LA Times has an interesting article about dramas on TV. Mostly, it reads (to me at least) as a indication of the stupidity of Network executives, and how they don't understand how to pit their hour-long dramas against the short-attention spans of the internet consuming populace. While cable networks seem content to turn out killer dramas (even if they're not high on live airing numbers) the regular networks seem completely confused. I'm definitely not going to be disappointed if we lose another cop show (like Chicago Code or Blue Bloods) but it's obvious that they don't know how to use new media (iTunes, Hulu, On Demand) to their advantage.

In Politics: The HRC site has a form you can fill out to add your name to the petition to House Speaker John Boehner about the bill to repeal DADT. Here.

Oh, oh, oh! And the "race against time" to reissue Pink Floyd albums. Their reasoning is kind of stupid -- in a, oh if we want people to buy a physical item we should do it now before people don't care anymore, sort of way. But, I'm kind of excited about the idea of not only retooled songs, but extra fun recording bits from the band. Apparently, the giant 4 cd collections released by The Beatles have been forgotten - you know the ones with all the studio recordings and the guys talking before and after songs (what fans wanted and didn't get, according to this article, when they redid their albums in '09.

And a video:

And then another video to hopefully help you smile today. :)

If you don't like that one - try out one of the Improv-a-ganza episodes from the Game Show Network. They have Matt and I crying some nights they're so funny. My favorite skit so far.

Tags: comedy, music in the key of life, philosophy, politics, religion, tv