... because I'm starting to loathe the acronym URI (upper respiratory infection).

It's still debatable whether we caught this round of bronchitis in time to avoid a long-term asthma exacerbation like the last round, but efforts have definitely been made. This was complicated by my PCP's office being closed for New Year's yesterday, but thankfully I was able to find a walk-in that was open and had a doc who would listen to me and believe me when I said, "No, I can't produce more verging-on-green phlegm on demand, but I swear that's why I'm here. I'm not stupid enough to want antibiotics for a plain old chest cold."

Antibiotics - check
Secondary inhaler to go with the rescue - check
Cough syrup so's I can sleep - check
Probiotics to offset the GI damage due to antibiotics - check
Garlic soup and hot toddies for general comfort and hopefully at least some killing of germs - check

Incidentally, I'm hugely grateful to lariopefic for introducing me to Firewhisky Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey at Aeternitas. It makes one hell of a great hot toddy. Now if only I could remember the ingredients for Pepper-up Potion. (It was not Fireball and Rumpleminze, which results in something tasting like the nastiest cough syrup imaginable.)

Patsfan wants to take me out for pizza. This may be better than having him cook, but I don't actually want to go out feeling like this. That and I'm down to one week to cough up (heh) 7500 words of rough draft for tw_classic_bb, of which I've just cut about a thousand words and rewritten them. That was probably not the best idea but the fic took a surprise left turn and leaving the old stuff in there that no longer fit was confusing me. Oh well, guess pizza's a good break food.

How is everyone doing? I'm sorry I've been crap at keeping up with LJ. Work continues to kick my ass. I'm in my 3rd week covering for the regular evening supervisor's vacation, which is moderately insane (how am I supervising nurses with 20+ years experience???), and am finally getting a bit less panicky about it all. Hence the reading the flist more and attempting to get back into the swing of things.

So, of course, I went on a writing sign-up binge. I haven't written since the summer, to go by my 5_for_five tracking spreadsheet, and sadly that sounds about right. Mostly I've about had the energy for mindless games when online or passively reading.

I didn't get my act sufficiently together for tw_bigbang, but I've modified the idea and run with it for tw_classic_bb. ETA: before anyone else has a minor coronary reading that before they see the banner below, TW=Torchwood, not Twilight. You know, that other batshit big-T fandom. :-D That seems to be taking off better, though I'm hanging onto the 3k or so I got done of the original to play with another time maybe. One of the nice things about tw_classic_bb is you have the option of a "mini-bang" of 7500 words, which is where I'm aiming for starters. If the characters get chatty, well, then maybe it'll go big.

Also signed up for the who_reversebang and Mistletoe and Hallucinogens at bowtiesnblasters. Yes, the deadlines are sufficiently staggered to be sane. Ish.

Fest	Word Min	Due date(s)
who_reversebang	3000	Dec 6 check-in Dec 19 posting starts
bowtiesnblasters	500	Dec 20
tw_classic_bb	7500 mini 15000 big	Jan 10 draft Feb 1 posting starts

Okay, the first two are on top of each other, but if I can't crank out 500+ words of Doctor/River before I even get to claim the art prompt for the other? Something is very wrong. What'll kill me is if either of the smallish fics blows up. Not that my fics ever do that. *eyeroll* At least I'm already on a roll writing the one that's due last, so it should be in good shape even though it'll get set aside when I get my prompts for the first two.

Erm, anyone got a TARDIS I can borrow? Vortex manipulator? Time-turner?

In case I've not yet tempted you to join in the two that are still taking sign-ups, here are their shiny banners:



Author Sign Ups | Artist Sign Ups
Come and join us at the who_reversebang


Author Sign Ups | Artist Sign Ups
tw_classic_bb

So, what's everyone else up to?

I'm rewatching Firefly and introducing Patsfan to it. He's getting into it. I, on the other hand, keep making observations like, "Oh, right, Saffron's where RTD got the idea for the paralyzing lip gloss," and "Oh yeah, I remember calling 'Fragments' Torchwood's 'Out of Gas' episode." This led to a brief debate over the relative merits, ending with mutual agreement that "Out of Gas" did the temporal transitions much better, but it was still cool to get the backstory on all the characters in "Fragments." Patsfan, however, apparently outright hated "Fragments," while I remain more of the opinion that it just could've been better structured.

Yes, my brain is broken. Is this news?

If anyone else who participated in the Whipped Cream Day mini-ficathon uses An Archive of Our Own, there is now a collection for those fics, which you can either post to or, if your fic is already up on AO3, I think you can edit to associate with the collection if you want.

Also, since fandom_stocking had an AO3 collection, I've uploaded the various things I wrote there.

• No Idea (Doctor Who, Nine/Jack, NC-17) written for arenee1999


• Genius (BtFS, Willow/Tara, G) written for cornerofmadness


• Beautiful (Firefly, River/Kaylee, Kaylee/Inara, PG) written for recrudescence


• Safe (Black Jewels, Jaenelle/Karla, PG-13) written for not_from_stars


• Possibilities (Harry Potter, Neville/Luna, G) written for haro


• Handmade (Harry Potter, Snape/Hermione, G) written for libco


• Make the Best of It (Doctor Who, Ten/Rose, G) written for baranyadi


• Picnic (Doctor Who, Ten/Rose, G) written for haro


• Tea and Company (Doctor Who/Torchwood, Martha/Jack, NC-17) written for nelliewu


• Point of View (BtVS, Giles/Anya, G) written for libco


• Key (Doctor Who, Nine/Rose/Jack, PG-13) written for canaana


• Stories (Firefly/Doctor Who, River Tam & River Song plus Serenity crew, G) written for sentientcitizen


• The Present (Charmed, Piper/Leo, Phoebe, G) written for supernaturalhel


• Solstice (BtVS, Willow/Tara, PG) written for clocketpatch


• Mistletoe (BtVS, Giles/Anya, G) written for philomytha


• Faces of River Song (Doctor Who, River Song, G) montage created for alt_universe_me

Whew! That's more than I realized. And at some point, I need to upload the rest, just to have everything in one place. At some point.

Now to tend to various fandom responsibilities I've let slide. Meep!

Is there one? I mean, come on, if ever a "what did they declare this day for" thingy demanded a ficathon, surely it's National Whipped Cream Day. I mean, if we added a ficathon, we could probably very quickly make it International Whipped Cream Day.

So, who's with me? Either find someplace already running one, or have our own in comments here! Any and all fandoms and pairings (or more, or gen), obviously. Someone on Twitter already asked me for Jane/Maura whipped cream fic. Alas, I don't even know a fandom that has both a Jane and a Maura. But surely someone does!

ETA: Apparently that'd be Rizzoli & Isles, the new Cagney & Lacey, which I'm going to have to check out. Meanwhile, attempting to churn out (heh) at least one ficlet to get things rolling before I have to run to work.

ETA2: Mini-masterlist

I Can Make It Better by huskyfriends (Firefly, River/Kaylee, PGish?)

Sweet Enough by firefly124 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Willow/Tara, R)

Intolerance by sc010f (Sherlock, John & Sherlock & Lestrade, PG-13)

Hot Chocolate by firefly124 (Harry Potter, Snape/Hermione, PG-13)

Mouthwatering by alisanne (Harry Potter, Bill/Neville, G)

Something New by firefly124 (Doctor Who, Nine/Rose/Jack, PG-13)

Sweet Dessert by huskyfriends (Torchwood, Jack/Ianto, NC-17)



Off to work now. Keep 'em coming!

ETA 3: Links to old fics that involve whipped cream are fair game too!

Mostly fluff, occasional angst. It's nice to actually be able to do a weekly wrap-up post.

• What Matters, Harry Potter, Snape(/Lupin), G


• Muted Joy, Doctor Who, River/Amy, Amy/Rory, G


• Keep 'Em Guessing, Doctor Who, Nine/Rose/Jack, PG-13


• Cold Certainty, Torchwood, Ianto(/Jack), Tosh, PG


• The Way to a Man's Heart, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dawn/Xander, Xander/Anya, G


• Tingly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Willow/Tara, PG


• Flying on Ice, Harry Potter, Snape/Hermione, G

Title: Don't Think You Knew You Were in This Song
Author: azn_jack_fiend
Fandoms/Spoilers: Doctor Who until S5. All of Torchwood including Children of Earth.
Characters/Pairings: Mickey/Martha, Jack, the Jones family
Rating: PG-13 for language, some sexual suggestiveness
Summary: Mickey and Jack meet again after the events of Children of Earth. Mickey considers how his life has changed since their first meeting, how far he's travelled since then, and wonders what he'll say to Jack. In between, he remembers a long, strange dinner party with the Jones family.
Why you should read it: I'd never really given much thought to the parallels between Mickey's and Jack's lives, nor to the fact that Mickey is the last human on Earth who knew Jack when he was mortal, if only briefly. azn_jack_fiend gave this some thought and not only came up with a fic that shows great insight into both characters, it makes some sense out of the canon gap of "Martha's engaged to Tom but now she's married to Mickey."

Title: Sun-Kissed
Author: remuslives23
Fandom/Spoilers: Torchwood through Exit Wounds
Rating: G
Summary: 'There have been far too few smiles recently. Far too few moments like this where the rift is quiet, and Gwen is with Rhys, and they manage to emerge from under the ground to enjoy the very things they are working so damn hard to save.'
Why you should read it: The imagery and language in this convey layers of insight into both Jack and Ianto as well as touching on more universal themes of finding hope and moving forward.

Well, okay, maybe not the *first* rule, but it's up there. One of the top rules for surviving the internet without having a stroke or an aneurysm on a near-daily basis is that if something pushes more than one of your buttons, or pushes one of them reallyreally hard, look for confirmation before you freak out.

This works for lots of things. It works for spam and OMGFORWARDTHISTOEVERYONEYOUEVERMET warnings. It works for hoaxes and scams. And it works for rumors.

So, when somebody leaks a supposed casting call sheet for the next season of a show, and said call sheet not only takes pretty much everything anyone has ever criticized about the show ever (from minor character peeves to various flavors of fail) and shines a megawatt spotlight on them all but takes at least one of them to a completely new level of batshit, seriously, all I can do is roll my eyes. Until and unless something gets put out by the BBC and/or Starz confirming that malarkey, it pretty much looks like a really bad, really late April Fool's joke to me.