my moral standing is lying down

So. I started to do a search for some pictures of Duo with a scythe, and possibly bat wings... my search term was "duo scythe"... and this was the second result:

Duo jailed for scythe attack on ex-partner
A couple who were both high on drugs subjected a visitor to a terrifying ordeal, a court heard. Victim Adam Graves was asked to hand over prescription...
http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/news/Duo-bars-terrifying-attack-ex-partner-scythe/article-1724591-detail/article.html

So I read the headline and was like, "Oh, this must be a fic..." but then I saw "Victim Adam Graves", and I was like, "WHAT?! Crossover GW fic with hockey?!" TOO WEIRD. LOL, but no, it's an actual article!

I went to sleep at 5:30am this morning, and woke up at 7:40am.



But ohhh, how I love GW fic~.

And I shall be eternally grateful for the awesome recommendations from the lovely ladies at Ycon on Saturday night (report to come soon... I promise)! badmomma64, merith, jana1x2x1, sharona1x2, klingonpoo, devilkitty0, zania. I'm not sure who recommended what anymore, as I just wrote them down in my little moleskine notebook from arthenice.

Sol 1056's (who is apparently out of the fandom?) fic Howl was OMGawesome! It seems to be unfinished, but it ended at a part that could be considered the end of part one. So it was still satisfying. I'm right now reading her Koji Ma Oshi, which is yummmmmmmmy. It somewhat feels like it could give me a slight feeling of closure to my pining for the never-to-be-written end of Madamhydra's fic Dominion Road (although DR is a lot darker). But KMO is also unfinished. I hope it has somewhat of an end. ^^

Also, love for 2x1 stories. Yaye.

[EDIT: I finished KMO ~ I srsly love the fic and OMG especially the last chapter, but it totally ends on a cliffhanger. And her last post was Dec 2005... *sigh*]

Last night I read (in one sitting, no less!) Dead Beat by Jim Butcher, the latest installment of the Harry Dresden series. Oooh, it was good. One thing that is always consistent with Butcher is his sense of humor; his dry wit is irrisistible and delightful. And I love that he makes grammar jokes within the story. OMG, yes I do; yes, I am a nerd. Sometimes he'll have a story that is less than captivating; his humor -- shot straight into your veins via the main character -- always pulls me through those trouble patches. Luckily, Dead Beat was not one of those less than captivating. The plot held up, as did the humor. And I think that this one was just a bit darker than usual, Dresden was a bit darker, and I loved it. I hope Butcher continues in this vein (no pun intended, I assure you).

Yesterday, I saw ponderosa121's post of commissioned original fanart for maderr's original fiction story, Treasure. For background information, you must understand that there haven't been many works of (fan)art that will make me go out and read a fic or start a series because of it. One exception is Pond's pic of Duo and Hilde that I love so much (and I'm not a 2xH fan) -- it really, really makes me want to write a fic for it! The other exception being the fanart linked above. I loved that it is two parts, not just one pic; I feel like you get to know the characters a bit better just because you can see them in two different ways -- the night/kiss scene is that much more powerful because you see them not kissing (but obviously sharing some kind of communication) in the day scene. And the dynamics and emotion in her art really leaps out of these pics!

I don't think Maderr could get any better advertising for her fiction than Pond's pics; I just don't think I can gush enough about them. It's really odd, but even without knowing the characters, I was really effected by their personalities -- that's how you know it's good art. =D

Well, I went to go read the original fiction, and by god, it's some of the best fiction I've read in a long time! Her characters and interesting and well-developed, and sensible! (Oh, the rarity of sensible characters ~ it pains me!) Her plot is also interesting and well-developed! I am highly impressed and feel the need to make everyone who hasn't read her stuff, go read it!

I read a really good fic today, well the first 2 parts, at least, of Tracing the Plot by sparcck. At the end of her post was a link to her LJ… so I went. I was immediately captured by the funny, quirky, ranty, and insightful things she had to say. I felt like I had just discovered a panel in a newspaper or magazine that I was just going to have to read every day. I wonder if she gets converts like this all the time? Makes me feel kind of ashamed that my LJ's so fluffy and blabby (maybe I should call it Duo's LJ instead of koyasunomiko's LJ), or kind of envious that I had thought of it first (or something equally as petty).

Then again, I can't bring myself to write about really deep stuff - issues that are really important to me and bother me - in this kind of public medium. I mean, my best friend reads all this stuff! Can you just imagine the sniping that'd be going on if she read all that I actually think about her?! ^_~

So I suppose it's not meant to be. Hmm… but don't worry, I guess I do have my moments. After all, remember that post about the whole WTC thing? Yeah. ::feels better:: I'm not a complete airhead, after all.

::thwaps Angelica over the head:: No comments outta you!

What I'm Reading: Lord of the Rings, Book I by J.R.R. Tolkien.

I hate to be one of those people who gets into something because it's all popular at the moment. I really do. But I've always wanted to read LOTR. I just could never work up the enthusiasm - the description of the story on the back of the books leaves something to be desired, let me tell you! My mom told me, when I was younger, that she had read (or tried to read) The Hobbit, but that she couldn't get through it. Well, I know my taste and my mom's taste are practically polar opposites, but you know how, when you get a bad recommendation, you seem to just lose enthusiasm for whatever it is they didn't recommend? Well, I guess that's how it was for me. I felt threatened by the length of the books and the series, and intimidated by the sheer volume of Guides "to Middle Earth," "to The Hobbit," "to Lord of the Rings," etc., etc. Which, when I think on it, doesn't make much sense considering I've read series that were much longer and more complex. But I guess that's not the point.

Well, anyway, so now here's the movie. Saw it twice. Not that I loved it so much I had to go out and see it again, but I saw it once with Angelica & Liz, then saw it again with my parents & Liz. At least it was good enough to see over, otherwise I'd have had to suffer through it. But it was good. (I'm not a big movie fan, in case you couldn't tell. I find it difficult to suspend my disbelief; I'm always looking for the glitches, bad editing, etc. which kind of leaves little appreciation for the movie itself. Although I do admit the exception to the rule is usually made with sci-fi/fantasy movies. But don't get me started on a romantic-comedy rant!)

So the movie seemed interesting enough that I figured, Okay, I think I'll try the book. Liz borrowed The Hobbit from her school library, but returned it instead of lending it to me like I asked. ::glares in Liz's direction:: Then she borrowed the first book of LOTR from a friend in her class and finished it on Tuesday night. So Wednesday morning I stole it from her and started reading it before she could return it to her friend. Aren't I bad? Well, I did promise to have it done for Monday. Which means I'll have to get some serious reading done this weekend. I'm only on page 104 of 479. Well, I think that should take about 6 hours. Maybe I'll be able to finish it on Saturday… if I'm not interrupted too much.

At least I'll read books 2 and 3 before the next 2 parts of the movie come out. Then I'll be able to tell if I really liked the movies in comparison with the books - from both sides: reading the book before watching the movie AND watching the movie before reading the book..

So far, I'm up to the part *SPOILER ALERT* (not a big one, though) where Pippen, Sam & Frodo are hiding from that first Ringwraith behind the roots of that big tree. I've found that the book goes a lot slower than the movie! Did you know that the time between Bilbo's departure to Rivendell and when Frodo leaves the Shire with the Ring is actually closer to 20 years than the not-even-one-week that the movie seemed to have implied? Everything goes much more quickly in the movie… of course, I understand why, and it was quite well done. After all, if you're going to the movies expecting it to follow the book to the T, you're going to be sorely disappointed.

Besides, Aragorn and Legolas's scrumptiousness quite makes up for it. Don't you think?

They offered me some more time. So I accepted. I'll be coming in again on January 2nd (so I still get a break, cool, ne?) and working 4 days a week (M-F) until school starts on the 22nd. Then I'll come in one day a week (Fridays) until March 31st. Sounds good, ne? I couldn't figure out what to tell Fay and Yvette about why I can't work for them for more hours during the winter break, like I usually do every year, but Angelica suggested I say I got a short internship. I don't know why I didn't think of that. Obviously too much work has fried my brains.

Oh, you know that Schism fic that I tried to write? Well, I think I waited just a little bit too long 'cause when I finally sat down to write it, it just wouldn't come! I ended up staring at the blank screen for a while, wrote a paragraph, and everything else I tried to write sounded lame and corny. Ugh. I hate it when you try to write and it comes out all stereotypical, you might as well be... I dunno... a dime a dozen romance writer or something. Not that I hate romances, you're actually talking to (well, okay, not talking to, but you know what I mean) a pretty loyal (and quite voracious at one time) romance reader! Now I've calmed down a bit, but I still pick up and read romances by my favorite authors.

In any case, I gave up on it. Then I started to re-read some of the fics that I'd started, but didn't finish for one reason or another (mostly, they're longer than one-shots and I kinda fell out of the mood to write that particular fic). And I opened my Gundam Wing-Initial D crossover fic and ended up writing a bit more onto that one. It's weird, I'm in the mood to write for it -- which is one of those school fics (kawaii!!! I love school fics!). But I'm not even half way through. It's one of those that would DEFINITELY be a multi-parter.

::sigh:: My fics never seem to humor me.

::cough cough:: Duo! ::cough cough::

Maybe I'll finish this one? Eventually?

Nah.