I can't hear this song without thinking of Colbert any more, but I guess that's not a bad thing.

Today was actually good, but my mood was very poor for most of it. Staved it off for the most part by being mechanically productive, and am staving it off now by reorganising my hard drive and copying all the stuff I'd burned to CDs onto the shiny new hard drive so I can use this box for something else.

I have so much Bleach. SO MUCH.

Because these are the lengths I go to in order to procrastinate on NaNo. Yes.

Also, it is wrong to expect things of other people when I do not want them to expect things of me. It is wrong, and I should stop doing it. Now.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/446103.html || comments

So I deduced, when I woke up properly about an hour and a half ago, that because the house was quiet and the air-conditioning was still on, it was probably about 9.30am and I could safely lie in bed reading for a little while without arousing anyone's wrath until my mother got home from her usual coffee shop jaunt around ten.

Turns out it was not about 9.30am, it was about 11am, and James had been supposed to get me up and tell me that we were headed to see Oopee and so I should get cleaning and also get ready to come along!

Completely ignoring that a) none of this had been mentioned the night before (as usual), and b) I had already mentioned that I had plans for early afternoon which did not involve being at Labrador.

One day, my mother will listen to anything I say at all. I don't care if it's 'I have already washed those' or 'that is a poisonous snake' - anything would do at this point. *facemash*

Anyway, so James is in trouble for not waking me up earlier, and I am in trouble for not psychically deducing that this Saturday would not be exactly like all Saturdays before it. This is what I get for being lulled into a routine.

In any case, things to do in the next few hours before Dad gets back to me about travelling to the distant reaches of Mt. Crosby:
- vacuum downstairs
- finish cleaning bathroom
- work up the nerve to use corrosive chemicals on the sink (Drano makes me fear for my hands and eyes, okay?)
- dry sheets
- wash darks
- hang darks
- wash towels
- pack small bag to take to Dad's place
- do NOT play Mario Kart
- do NOT sit around mooning over realestate.com
- do NOT watch The Road to El Dorado
- also do not take it to Dad's with you or you will never get it back from the children (I am an excellent big sister, I don't know what you're talking about)
- write NaNo only in ten minute blocks between chores

[EDIT] Also, man, I had the weirdest combination of dreams last night.

x-posted from http://cheloya.dreamwidth.org/442674.html || comments

Yyyyyeah, going to have to talk to alt about this whole 'tuesday release with saturday qe finish' thing because hint IT ISN'T WORKING OUT TOO WELL FOR ME.

I mean, everything is going fine, but I would also like to not have to babysit Havelock through the entire process. And the VPN is slow as shit, so everything is taking about five times as long. I should really just go into work, but then I could not do the washing while I wait.

Wyrren is going to drop past on her way back from town, though. :D I should maybe have brushed my hair by then.

Original || Comment ||

I am expecting an epic technology fail at any moment now, but so far - SO FAR - things are going pretty okay. And I can now keep half an eye on my builds without causing too much panic.

(jsdfhasd the SECOND I typed that there was a minor error. XD TYPICAL. So, yes, half an eye. BUT ONLY HALF.)

TO DO:
- take rubbish down
- dry sheets
- vacuum house
- dust bookshelves and gaming devices
- try to scribble some basic plotting for Rocfall
- ELEVEN HOURS SEVEN MINUTES TIL NANO GUYS OMG

Original || Comment ||

I have had puppies sprawled lazily at my feet, elbow, or on my bed, all day. I am quite comfortable with this, and, as such, have accomplished nothing worth mentioning.

To Do:
- up before midday, kthx JUST A BIT BEFORE, MIND. :|
- figure out if Hiru is going to hijack NaNo
- tell Hiru sternly not to hijack NaNo unless he can convince Tol it's a good idea
- watch Merlin S02E04
- consider tidying desk
- handwave all desk-tidying
- read
- Book!verse playlist
- Book!verse worldbuilding
- Book!verse bare bones plot
- Book!verse working title at least, c'mon

[EDIT]

Yeah, so, back to sleeping terribly. Woo. Would have gotten up at about three had Tom not given me a look of such pained longsuffering for my crazy that I took pity on him and went back to tossing and turning. I'm going to choose to look upon this as a good sign - that I'm going to be productive, and not blankly miserable - rather than oh god here we go again with the not-sleeping. At the moment, I confess, I am tempted to curl up with a book - but this is because it's early and quiet and chilly. So I think I'll add some actual process goals to that list.

Original || Comment ||

My mother took a photo of me just after I'd crawled out of bed this morning. I am firmly in favour of a 'no photographs when I am not wearing pants' rule, but apparently she does not care.

TO DO:
- shower
- wash sheets
- dry sheets
- wash darks
- dry darks
- vacuum
- arrange Death cosplay for tomorrow
- study/write
- decide what to make for dinner
- procure ingredients for dinner
- make dinner
- write while your family watches football A LINE FOR MADDIE'S MEME TOTALLY COUNTS SHUT UP
- write after your family watches football
- make bed
- write! :)
- ...oh, all right, read instead.

Well, today I have done very little, but part of what I did was rearrange all of my video games, handhelds, figurines and books.

( Ta-dah! )

Give me the title of a story I've never written, and feedback telling me what you liked best about it, and I will tell you any of: the first sentence, the last sentence, the thing that made me want to write it, the biggest problem I had while writing it, why it almost never got posted, the scene that hit the cutting room floor but that I wish I'd been able to salvage, or something else that I want readers to know.

Because gods know I've not been writing anything of actual use lately.

To Do:
- clean shower
- eat breakfast
- wash sheets
- dry sheets
- go to the doctor Not tonsilitis! Sinusitis. Yay? >_>
- tidy room
- rearrange bookshelves
- vacuum
- sketch for commission
- complete commission
- read (possibly Havemercy, possibly PSoH) <-- Bugger that, going straight to WRITING, BITCHES
- write (either Debt or Many Hands Make)
- do not start playing Pokémon. I mean it. Don't listen to the other kids, it will only bring you pain and Venomoth

[EDIT] I... may have started watching Hot Fuzz instead. I have no regrets.

Okay, yeah, I'm totally charging my GBC in preparation. (Because you can't play Yellow on a DS or an XP, man, it's wrong. Also the cartridge sticks out too far and that hurts me.)

I know sleeping know would be a monumentally bad move, but that doesn't make the bed look any less inviting. To stave that off, to do list:

- finish Wicked Gentlemen
- sketch Gaura of Gaura Vani and As Kindred Spirits
- list BPAL imps for Sonya
- take mum BPAL shopping, yay, yay, perfume
- write something, preferably coherently

[EDIT] So, I'm not finished Wicked Gentlemen yet, but I have to say - it's good, right, but it seems to suffer a persistent case of not quite rightness. As in, none of the phrases are quite as beautiful as they could be. The rhythm is off, the word isn't as precise as it should be... whatever, there's just this niggling sense that it needs to be rewritten and resoldered and given another six months in the bottom drawer. It's frustrating, because otherwise I'm really enjoying it, but I guess reading Sarah Monette almost exclusively for eighteen months has left me spoilt for gorgeous phrases.

[EDIT] Yeah, no, that book was little more than mush. Next!

Feeling significantly less than overwhelmed this morning, which perhaps just makes me whelmed. Slept like the dead, which was a great relief.

An easily-accomplished list of tasks for the day:
- get dressed (yes, this is a goal)
- wash sheets
- dry sheets
- tidy room
- tidy desk
- tidy bathroom
- vacuum downstairs
- scene the rest of the first section of AtM
- chair hunt on the interwebs
- clean the shower
- train to Oxley by 5pm

After that, any and all hope of completing goals will be obliterated by the presence of children, so you know, I'm not even going to bother. I do want to try to write things this weekend, though.

In slightly different news, I am out of milk for my tea, and I think I need to complicate the fae side of the plot in AtM so Hiru doesn't show up at the beginning and then just... vanish for a few chapters. This could just involve little snapshots of his mother, hearing that Auberon has a new pet, working in the wards, but I'm not sure how to make that exciting and important other than, well, HIRU IS ON THE PAGE, OBVIOUSLY THIS IS VITAL STUFF. Well, I mean, it is important and exciting. But. Oh, I don't know what I mean. XD; Fail.

Today I cleaned and organised myself approximate due dates for writing AtM by the end of the year, and tried to avoid James and Chris, both of whom are ill. I have a headache but hopefully this is lack of proper sleep more than illness. And by 'hopefully' I mean 'if it knows what's good for it'.

Also realised today that, man, I told Sarah Monette I was painting Felix and I only got as far as his eyes. I SHOULD FIX THAT. :| It isn't like the drive to capture her characters doesn't basically burn my skin off whenever I think about it. Should have been an illustrator. |D; Have not the technical skill, or the patience for art theory. Woe.

Tomorrow I will:
- get up in the morning (YES THIS IS A GOAL)
- line Auberon for really reals this time
- fix Skeff's legs sdhfas
- line Aundin
- scene the first section of AtM again properly
- start manning up to remove the plot snake before your mother kneecaps you
- paint moar Felix (does he or does he not have Jeremy Brett's nose, and can you use references to your advantage?)
- do not reread Mélusine. No, seriously, you don't have time for this no matter how much you-- okay, okay, TEN PAGES.

Really should not write lists to myself when I am meant to be crawling into bed! It makes me sound crazy. Oh well, you knew that anyway!

[EDIT] ( Melusine spoilers. )

Saturday! Day of Doing Things So You Do Not Have To Do Them Later! Today:
- clean bathroom
- tidy desk
- wash sheets
- dry sheets
- vacuum
- fix whatever James did to the last pot when he washed the heavy dishes, sigh. (This is the real reason having sore hands sucks.)
- check that you did not bork /docs Did not bork! Huzzah! This is about the extent of my technical ability, sigh.
- work out whether or not you could really hypothetically write a full draft of AtM by the end of the year, even while working full time
- do your tax
- figure out scening for Debt?
- write until Tina stops hitting you over the internet, ow
- finish lining Hiru
- line Auberon Tol and Kir are totally Auberon, shut up
- redo Skeff's LEGS, GOD, THEY ARE RETARDED, STOP THAT Never mind.

Additionally: Hal Duncan FTW.

From elanor_pam's entry:
Aww, I just heard news from the TV downstairs talking about a 12 year old boy who died protecting a six year old little friend from some nutsos who were walking down their street shooting at random to menace some guy they had nothing to do with.

I'm posting about it because I believe this is the kind of thing that deserves to be remembered.

ETA: When the guys showed up shooting, the 12 year old boy actually RAN and hugged the smaller boy, to whom he wasn't actually related in any way.

---

This deserves remembering.

---

The American Wicked must be really shitty, okay, because both Gneil and AFP hate it. Either that or neither of them appreciates the utter cheesiness of it all. I DON'T GET IT, BUT WHATEVER.

Work was complicated, and will get more complicated tomorrow. I have basically written off all hope of accomplishing the tasks I set myself for this week, but that's okay, because I have accomplished... well, not lots of small tasks. But I hope to accomplish lots of small ta... look, I worked, okay, that is the point, here.

Tonight:
- make a real dinner, since mum is still at the coast with Oopee
- write
- draw
- watch The Sign of Four
- stop feeling sick

Oopie's staying in the hospital for observation for 3-5 days. They think the fluid in his lungs is because his heart's not working right; they think his heart's not working right mostly because of stress and dehydration. Mum and her sisters are doing shift work with Oomie and spending time at the hospital with Oop, and we think this should all sort itself out.

This weekend today, since I'm babysitting for Dad's anniversary tomorrow XD
- tidy room
- vacuum
- dry dark load #1
- wash sheets
- dry sheets
- wash dark load #2
- dry dark load #2
- wash dark load #3
- dry dark load #3
- fold dark load #1
- fold dark load #2
- clean shower
- clean bathroom
- wash towels
- dry towels

I need another washer and dryer during winter, I swear. XD

[EDIT] Next time Cats comes to Brisbane, I will have a shirt made ready, and it will say, THIS LAP RESERVED FOR: RUM TUM TUGGER. :)

How'd it get to be half past ten? *squint*

For the Morrow:
- dust
- clean light fitting
- clean shower
- wash sheets
- dry sheets
- fold dark load
- scrub the kitchen
- take the rubbish down
- standards
- atm
- maybe a wee bit of the richfaces docs or the seam proofreading look i cannot help it there is not enough time okay orz
- resist the urge to reorder the bathroom cupboard and chuck out all your old shite
- resume the search for stackable, packable bookshelves
- figure out dinner

And when I say standards and atm, I mean "write the porn" and "fix that awful forge scene, god".

Today we did a brief desk shuffle, because Vinu is returning to docs on Monday and she will be working with Isaac and I. :D And apparently Chris will soon be working with us, too. This is awesome sauce, although I am extremely weirded out by my current desk position and mildly nervous I am going to accidentally pile-drive someone if they startle me. >_> IT HAS HAPPENED BEFORE.

I also rewrote 1.3% of this chapter. In eight three hours. (Eight hours was about 3.9%.) It is a fucking long chapter, can I just say. Also: Holy shit.

Tonight:
- tidy desk
- tidy room
- vacuum
- clean kitchen
- tidy bathroom
- clean sink
- clean toilet
- wash dark load
- hang dark load
- fold current load
- stop feeling guilty for not going to the pub (seriously, Scott was guilt-tripping me awfully T_T I am sorry but Friday night is consistently a really bad time!)
- ...eat at some point! It's good for you!
- rescue BSG'78 from havelock
- try not to go to bed at eight, thus fucking up your sleep routine for all time I made it to eight... can I go to bed now?

Oh, and I changed my IJ layout yesterday... not sure I like it yet, but, enh. There are so few nice ones around until I can be fucked with my own CSS.

[EDIT] And sorry for yesterday's emo-bah post; I went from fabulous to shite over about forty-five minutes and stayed that way for most of the evening.

Went out for alleyne's partner's birthday last night. Fantastic fun all 'round. ^^ All their friends are excellent company, so it's very easy to feel, well, at ease.

The last few days at work have been pretty good! I've felt very productive and I've been churning through the rewriting, which is just as well, because there is SO MUCH TO DO. I think we'll have enough time to finish the priority items before the next release, though, and then it's just a matter of working through the less essential books for subsequent releases.

I'm less angry about HP6 now; I'm sure many of you will enjoy it, and there were certainly enjoyable parts, it's just that a good number of things were completely and utterly wrong, and I found them appalling. Not all of them were my favourite things, either, although rest assured I was furious at those, too. Sigh.

This weekend I'm heading over to Wyrr's for a while, so I've got loads to do before I leave the house tomorrow, and loads more to do when I return. XD If I weren't so goddamn full from pizza, I'd start on it now, but oh god, I am so very full from pizza.

In other news, I have commissioned a Sanga from Chira, and Tina has commissioned a Xolotl and, I believe, a Nouf. I AM MORE EXCITED ABOUT THE NOUF. JUST SAYING.

TO DO:
- wash sheets
- dry sheets
- clean shower
- clean bathroom
- clean toilet
- tidy bedroom
- write dibs
- get tax forms
- figure out what you have to do for your own website-related earnings and tax
- investigate the possibility of an accountant
- stop feeling so goddamn full from pizza

...it doesn't look like a lot, but there are so many things implied by that list. XD I fail at life.

By which I mean "fucking phone fucking ringing when I'm still in fucking bed" but I only dragged myself upright for the second call, so while I missed it, and I'm up, I also did not have to talk to anyone. Score!

EK has moved all the "A Year in Waiting" strips to their own sub-domain so you should check them out! The service industry is thankless, but I liked it for a lot of the same reasons she did.

porn_battle is on again this weekend... I should write for that. None of the prompts are really pinging me, though. What is the world coming to when people cannot give me intriguing jumping-off points for hot hot sex? Honestly.

Things I am Trying to Do/Have Had an Eye Toward Doing This Weekend:
- reorganise Raph-Is's music, video, and art directories
- ... in preparation for pumping everything into Aziraphale and starting again in a nice, logical order. Possibly chronologically, because that's a good proof of productivity, right?
- Oh hell, write those things I said I'd write or I'm going to have to give MM to Wyrren! (I'm not convinced I ever told her about this. XD; Um. Surprise?)
- So, uh, do not write anything for porn_battle until those things are done. Or at least one of those things are done. Oh, hell. Damn you, stepstepjump!
- clean the bedroom
- clean the bathroom
- wash sheets
- dry sheets
- vacuum
- BSG pre-series special thing
- xsltproc again jdsfjahs
- Medieval Faire at the coast tomorrow with uni kids!

I was talking to mum about blogging the other day and why I make use of it. She keeps getting hung up on the privacy issue. "Why would you want to put it all out there for people to see?"

ME: Well, you don't have to. I mean, I could make mine friends-only, or locked just to me. But it's sort of a universal way of keeping in contact.
MUM: People don't need to know what you're doing every day. :\
ME: No, but I do. :\

And it's true. I really use this more for my own benefit than yours. I have a memory like a steel wossname, and I need this, because if I don't write it down, it's lost in an anachronistic haze. And as a fiction archive it's a good measure of when I've been most productive. Also, tagging is better than sorting things into boxes.

That train of thought derailed itself, but I did have a point when I started! See, I should have written it down and then dissembled. I don't have the memory for reverse-pyramid articles any more. ;)

- waited forever (and I mean forever) at the cultural center to get a bus out to Bellbowrie
- played FFVII on the bus and accidentally dropped a correct barrel, as usual. BLOODY AERIS, WHY ARE YOU SO HARD TO NOT-SAVE. D:
- got off at the wrong STOP dslkjfas
- spent like five hours doing a puzzle with Kyla and telling the children to go away and play quietly mummy and Laura were busy DON'TTOUCHTHAT
- became addicted to new game called Dynamic Systems on King.com T_T damn you, physics, why must you lure me?
- read very little of HBP because of aforementioned puzzle and game. :(
- argued with Dad over Gneil's (and fantasy's) literary merit
- wrote: NOTHINGGGG

[EDIT] Also, Hiru has been walking around naked in my head for several hours now, possibly in an attempt to remedy that last point. He should not do this while I am trying to read HBP, because holy god, what the HELL, mixed messages.

Today I:
- watched Tin Man Pt II & III
- watched about ten minutes of the Care Bear movie before deciding that there was clearly not going to be any No-Heart and I didn't love Grumpy Bear that much
- watched Igor instead
- drew Hiru/Auberon
- drew Hiru/Sanga in retaliation against myself???
- drew Tol looking manly
- laughed a lot
- continued feeling woozy
- failed to draw Skeff's nose

I need to develop my style to include big flat snub noses, because Skeff's is weird and squarish despite his having southern fae blood or something, who knows, and cannot be properly drawn.

I am not woozy when I concentrate on drawing on paper, but that is about it so far. Sigh.