Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in teaotter's InsaneJournal:

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Thursday, January 1st, 2009
12:34 am	update Back from trip of far too many airports. Didn't have time to see everyone we wanted to, but we did get to spend good time with at least some of the people we love that we don't get to see often. (*best part of trip*) Caught bad cold. Still have bad cold. *hack cough sputter collapse* Cats, left alone, are disgusting creatures. My thanks to XT for helping minimize how much I wanted to just turn around and burn the apartment down when we got home. My drivers license expired while we were gone. I didn't even realize it was coming up. The airport security people didn't hassle me about it -- though they kept asking me stupid polite friendly questions about our trip instead of taking me aside or just leaving me alone to my cold-medicine-induced stupor. And, to top it off: The electrical outlets aren't working in either bedroom, or in the kitchen. Which, since we have electric space heaters, means no heat. Well, until we found the giant extension cord of high-power ratings to stretch into the bedroom from the living room, where power still flows nicely. (*worst part of trip, hands down. even more than cold or cats*) I checked the electical panel I can find, but nothing's tripped (and I reset them anyway, just to be sure). It says it's a subpanel, so maybe there's another one somewhere. I left a note for the landlord, since I don't think waking him up in the middle of the night is really necessary when we have the giant orange extansion cord of doom. I can't quite call this an emergency. Happy New Year, all. *passes out now* (Comment on this)
Monday, December 15th, 2008
1:34 pm	Number 250!!! ( Screen shot! ) (Comment on this)
10:46 am	yuletide glee My reader got back to me ASAP -- the draft is recognizeable and comprehensible, even without the POV being labeled. I was so worried. Now I just have to expand the last third and get it uploaded today, and I'll get a gold star next to my name in the archive again. *DANCE-DANCE-DANCE-DANCE-DANCE-DANCE* (Comment on this)
Sunday, December 14th, 2008
11:54 pm	Draft! I have a complete draft of my yuletide story! By midnight even! (My personally-imposed deadline.) I think the last third needs to be expanded somewhat, but it's a postable story as-is. It's also one of the weirdest fucking stories I've ever written in my entire life, and certainly won't make a lick of sense without [redacted] the [redacted source material]. It may not make any sense *anyway*. I wonder if anyone but me and my recipient offered to beta this fandom? ETA: Yes, someone did! And ey has time to read it! yuletide is pretty much the most amazing thing ever. *squee!* (Comment on this)
Friday, December 12th, 2008
7:08 pm	I am hiding from my Yuletide story. This is not a good sign. Perfectly normal for me at this time of year, but still. Not good. Not good at all. *wibbles* (Comment on this)
11:35 am	I am totally stealing this from jake_richmond. But it is sooooo worth it. Click this. No, really. If you love dragons and swords and cheesy music and unicorns then you'll love this. There's no unicorns, but if you're the kind of person who likes unicorns then you'll dig it. I promise. If you have a poster of a unicorn, or a castle, or a knight on your bedroom wall. Ironic or otherwise. if you ever played D&D. If you like men with long, glossy hair. Or bad cg. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
7:12 pm	I've been having a hell of a time working on my yuletide story, so today, I bit the bullet and tried Write or Die. I wrote 1,500 words in twenty minutes. Not all of them are story words, but I'd say 90% of them are backstory or rough draft. Of the strangest story idea I've ever *had* (which is saying something). I... I think the threat of negative reinforcement may work very well for me. I'm not sure how I feel about that. On the other hand: WORDS! (Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
5:34 pm	Just got done with 1+ hour conversation with in-laws regarding home ownership, mortgages, and whether or not all real estate agents are evil -- or if that's just my in-laws. I usually handle the business end of things for my family, so I had the fun job of explaining where we are in the mortgage search and why it's a good idea for us. -- Oh, hell, I think they just called back -- (Comment on this)
Monday, December 8th, 2008
10:24 pm	(sad) knitting update I suppose it was about time for a truly horrible knitting failure. I just... gah. I am frustrated and disappointed, and really upset about how long I've been working on this thing to have it turn out like this. I have been struggling with John's sweater for more months than I could possibly have imagined when I started. I got derailed by the move and never quite managed to get any momentum back. Every time I started to put it together, I ran into problems -- I'd list them, but the list is long, as are the solutions I attempted to solve the problems. Today, I sewed the final sleeve on -- and it looks horrible. Really, truly horrible. The bottom edge is dragged up and back by the ribbing, the whole thing is exactly the size the pattern called for but still too small for John's torso... I think that the pattern doesn't work for this yarn; the pattern is for tight and clingy, and I think non-wool yarns just don't stretch enough to make it work right. My hodge-podge of additions to solve the problems that came up are actually adding to the sheer ugliness of the item, too. Damn it. Right now, I've washed it and blocked it. We'll have to see if the blocking makes the rest of it bearable. If not, I'm going to be taking it apart (it's about $80 worth of yarn, and was supposed to be John's birthday present back in *August*) and trying again. With a different pattern, so I won't even have the benefit of the experience of putting this one together -- but I really think, if the blocking doesn't fix it, that this pattern is a dud. Which would mean another 2-6 months of work to find out if I've screwed it up again. (Comment on this)
Sunday, December 7th, 2008
6:26 pm	writing updates (untitled): Torchwood, Gwen/Tosh, 6,050 words. Probably about 1,000 words to go. yuletide story: (fandom redacted), no words at all. None. I... may be in trouble, here. (Comment on this)
Saturday, December 6th, 2008
6:04 pm	A Fistful of Sky, review I just read A Fistful of Sky by Nina Kiriki Hoffman. I don't recommend it -- in fact, I've been ranting about it since page 102, so I thought I'd share my ire with the rest of you. (And yes, I finished it; it was infuriating, not terrible.) I've read a couple of other books by this author and have been disappointed by the passivity of her protagonists. They tend to do very little without being essentially forced into the action by other characters or another external driving force. The protagonist of this books does *nothing* without a shove. All of her choices are immediately driven by another person or an external force. Every last one. After a while, I was making fun of them as they happened.( mild spoilers here ) I now want to ask for this at Yuletide next year -- only to ask for the filthiest, kinkiest sex imaginable. ( okay, I lied, more mild spoilers under the cut ) That's plenty of room for age-play, mommy/daddy issues, cross-dressing, bodyswap, bestiality... That's what fanfic is for, people. I can't wait! (Comment on this)
Friday, November 28th, 2008
10:13 pm	Meme from gileonnen: Put your MP3 player media player on shuffle, and write down the first line of the first twenty songs. Post the poem that results. The first line of the twenty-first is the title.. I will have faith in man something is happening I didn't say we wouldn't hurt anymore: fate up against your will don't bother sitting at my table I write a million songs about the weather I've got a chrome-plated heart you don't know how you took it take off those working clothes I'm having trouble trying to sleep well the Bible tells us about a man -- oh, baby, what went wrong? -- look at me, dreaming of you her beauty is blinding it's never easy, and you'll never know. the night will start to fall too many things I haven't done yet! give me one more chance if we seek solace in the prisons of the distant past (the southside of Chicago is the baddest part of town) I found him by the railroad track this morning (Comment on this)
Thursday, November 20th, 2008
6:32 pm	Rec: Optometrist in PDX For anyone looking for an optometrist in Portland, I highly recommend Dr. Marielle Kwon at the Sears Optical Department in the Lloyd Center Mall. She was absolutely the first doctor to actually believe me when I told her I was phobic about anything touching my eyes, made a note in my chart to that effect, and actually adjusted how she did things to help me out. She was friendly and professional, including when she saw that my two partners had come with me for moral support. It helps that the technology has changed enough that they no longer have to touch my eyes for much -- so much joy! -- but the fact that she actually listened to me made it so much better. (My eyes are still too dilated to actually focus on the screen, dammit, but that's a small price to pay.) (Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
5:20 pm	From various people: 1. Magazines subscribed to - None. Although heron61 subscribes to several in my name. 2. Aside from reading, my favorite pastimes are - Knitting, cuddling, story generation (as opposed to writing, which is the work-part of stories). 3. If I were not a [umm, forensic accounting assistant?], I would probably be a -- well, it depends on your intent with 'probably.' If you mean 'likely,' then I would've been an urban planner, or an urban studies professor. If you mean 'preferably,' I'd be a masseuse. 4. I am irrationally worried about - whether the front door is locked when I'm sleeping. 5. If I were the opposite sex - My life would look pretty similar, actually. 6. The thing I miss most about childhood is - I don't miss it at all. 7. I like to collect - keys, especially keys with no known provenance. Dunno why. 8. Though I’ve never been there, I feel inexplicably homesick for - the American Southwest. 9. I’ve never really liked to eat - brussel sprouts. I'm a mutant, I know, but they taste funny. ;) 10. When I have nightmares, they’re usually about - saving my cats from inevitable doom. (Comment on this)
Saturday, November 15th, 2008
6:27 pm	New glasses = Yay! Unfortunately, they're also making me queasy. Bleah. (Comment on this)
2:14 pm	Marriage Equality Cat-Macros Anyone have any links to Anti-Prop8 or other marriage equality cat macros? They really ought to be out there... (Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
12:27 pm	Dear yuletide Santa: You are awesome beyond measure! I deliberately request the teeny-tiny obscure fandoms I love best, and the fact that you offered to write them fills my heart with glee. I want to thank you for writing my story, and look forward to praising you further when I get to read it. Thank you so much! I am pretty easy-going about stories, honestly. Gen, het, slash -- I'm good with all of them, and any rating. I'm not specifically requesting sex or romantic relationships in any of my stories because I don't want to force you into writing a pairing you don't believe in, or to make a story about a relationship when you'd rather write something else. But I want to be clear that I am fine with it in just about any variation. Incest doesn't bother me. Neither does hate-sex, friendly romance, or fuck-buddies. I am far more likely to be squicked by humiliation. I'm afraid I hide from television shows when the characters embarrass themselves, so try to avoid it in the story you write for me. But mostly, I like complicated characters. I like people who have more than one reason for what they do, or find themselves in situations where they can't have everything they want. I like to see them choose, see them compromise. I don't like having everything work out perfectly, or having everything go completely wrong. I like seeing them try. ( Specific details under the cut! ) (Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
10:05 am	If you haven't seen this yet One Day More: (Comment on this)
Sunday, November 2nd, 2008
10:18 pm	Yuletide! Signups are open! Days earlier than scheduled, so my current request-details are even more preliminary than usual. I will probably go back and change my offers as sign-ups continue, to make sure I write something incredibly obscure. Hence, my new Yuletide icon. Wheee! Yuletide! (Comment on this)
Sunday, October 26th, 2008
11:33 pm	Conversations in fandom We noticed that one of the upcoming CSI: Las Vegas episodes has Lady Heather in it. For those of you who haven't watched the show, Lady Heather is one of their more interesting occasionally recurring characters -- a dominatrix who runs a large-scale dungeon and on-line porn site (she's even got her own Wikipedia entry, though I think she's a better character than the article gives her credit for). And it occurred to me that someone should run the Lady Heather's Dominion Multi-Fandom Crossover Challenge. We all promptly began to think of possible stories, the best of which were: Doctor Who: Donna, post-Journey's End, has decided to give up the temp life and become the best domme in Chiswick, so she signs on to apprentice at Lady Heather's (UK). One of the earlier incarnations of the Doctor arrives. Hijinks ensue. ST-TNG: The crew are enjoying the latest version of Captain Picard's holodeck program of the Detective Dixon Hill. Lady Heather hires Hill to investigate a crime at her establishment, since she can't call in the cops. Film-noir-filtered-through-Next-Gen hijinks ensue. I can't remember all of the others, but we had a ton of fun coming up with them. Now if I could just convince someone to run the fic challenge, we'd be set! ;) (Comment on this)