You had plenty money 1922

...bollocks.

It looks like someone's already nabbed burntcopper as a gmail/googlemail addy. Which has me scratching my head, since it's *never* taken as a username. Seriously. Now I bloody need to find something that's not taken, I can remember easily and is easy to use over the phone. Which was half the point of always using snapdragon@beeb.net (ah, the halcyon early days of t'internet when nobody had taken the common usernames yet...). The only other people I can find who even use burntcopper are an exhibition services company in Islington who seem to have registered it as a ltd company (but have no web presence), and someone on a single forum who seems to originate in Orlando about three years ago...

The only other thing I can really think of is burntozone, but I can't think how easy that is to spell over the phone. Not to mention it also can be read as 'burn to zone'

Don't want to use my burntcopper.com addresses because I have no idea how reliable that is for webmail. And it already bloody gets spammed as it is. Maybe I should try trialling that for the next couple of days and see how it works. Just vaguely worried if I ever forget to renew it/site problems and have no back-up email addresses.

Oh well. registered burntozone@googlemail.com as emergency, will set up the burntcopper.com addys later.

Also, my period's just started. For, er, all of two seconds. Which is so much for the win with a convention this weekend...

I'd Do Anything - group song 'Enough is Enough' is at least a better choice for musical acting than 'Sound of the Underground' was. Though seriously, how fucking bad is the sound in that studio considering how out the last two were? Keisha and Cleo didn't deserve to be in the sing-off, but really peeved that Andrew chose Keisha and dumped Cleo. Cleo damn well acted her way through the sing-off and Feelin' Good. Keisha - lovely voice, but nothing behind the eyes when she was singing. I really don't know if she'd make a good musicals performer, whereas fingers crossed that Cleo gets work soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6XEk2j7RtU - reasons to hate Paul. And Jackie. And Sonia. Oh, and various others. Mind you, slightly weirded out over the sound of my voice, since I rarely get to hear what it sounds like to others. As usual, '...I'm that deep? And that luvvie-sounding?'

Woke up at 8am by noise, looked out and fucking hell. Snow falling. Grabbed camera, took pictures for actual proof. Lunchtime, I went for a walk, by which time it was melting if the snow was on it - sun being warm enough that I tuck three loads of laundry out which wasn't that far off dry by the time the snow started falling again. And experienced that very weird feeling of shaking snow off laundry.

Barrowman tomorrow. SQUEE.

or rather it crashed, and I lost allllllll my tabs when it restarted, without even the usual option of 'it closed unexpectedly, restart session?'. Like, a good few weeks' worth of ones that I'd left open, thinking I'd get round to them eventually. Sadly, no. Because I got past the 6 day bit in history and couldn't see/distinguish from the ones I actually *wanted* to read. Bollocks. Suspect the ones I wanted may be older. :mutter:

:pokes empty foil wrapper: Whaddya mean the Tardis egg is all gone? I'm sure it was here a minute ago.

Watched No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency with parentals (who're addicts of the books) and yes, pretty, the supporting characters are brilliant and it's fun, but my god Caitlin Moran was right in the Times Metro TV review column. Vicar of Dibley does Botswana. Need to d/l He Kills Coppers.

Just so you know, we hate psmorrison. Pubmeet, which was for once held in the o'Neills on Cannon St (rather than its usual Holborn location) due to that being nearer the Stone which Sloopy was renting out for his birthday in the evening - costume encouraged, but due to the fact that all my costumes that fit are *skimpy*, I failed and went as Jenny Sparks. Which is essentially a union jack vest top. Though later, me and Giles did a swanky pilots' double-bill escort for ksbpooks on our hunt for Domino's as he was dressed as Original Capt. Jack Harkness and I had my flying jacket and white scarf on. Flying gear goooooood when weather is fucking freezing.

Anyway : the reason we hate Paul. The pubmeet lot find it extremely amusing that yours truly, when tickled in the correct place, squeaks and emits very high-pitched noises, and have been known to attack for the hell of it. Jackie, Shaun, Claire, Sonya and Chris did this. Then Paul got out the camera and started encouraging them to do it more so that he could video it. I ended up on the floor. And accused him of low-grade encouragement of happy-slapping. WE HATES THEM ALL.

Have fabric for the swiss Miss outfit. Need to cut and sew, and then tweak hood of Jedi Chef robe and make headgear. :eyes play.com: I don't need a lightsaber, I don't need a lightsaber...

Fuck. Was doing the washing up, had a sneeze-cough (which is kind of a one-shot hack to get phlegm up), and mum started laying into me because it's louder and sounds worse and the coughing fits are louder and she accused me of exaggerating it for attention and it being horrible manners (yes, my mother is all about the manners and public appearances on her own level and has often over the years accused me of doing stuff for attention - she's pretty much an introvert and I'm the family extrovert, and that's even compared to my brother and dad), I protested with the fact that it's half cough, hence why it sounds horrible, you think I do this for attention and fun, and she kept going, saying my coughs are louder and nastier and she's quite familiar with them thankyou, my coughs do not sound like what they've been in the past few weeks, me yelling that you think this is fun, I've torn things with this cough, it's painful and I sometimes end up wheezing, you think I'm doing this for *attention*, and I ended up screaming at her to the point that dad came in to see what was wrong and I was crying at that stage, tried to get out of the room because she just wasn't listening and was still insisting it was bad manners and he tried to mediate a bit and it came pouring out - she's heard it my whole life, it was never this loud and I said it was because I spend most of my time in London and it being drier (parents' house is ten-fifteen minutes walk uphill from the Thames, fair bit of farming land and floodplain nearby plus river being border to oxfordshire and twee little country villages, whole area's very densely tree'd, Reading town centre where I went to school and worked for the past few years pre-London is tiny and is on two rivers and a couple of canals) and she retaliated with the fact that it wasn't like this last year.

I pointed out that I didn't live with them last year, they never heard it, as far as people at work are concerned, Heather's coughs and sneezes are like echoing gunshots, Heather's coughing fits are loud and sometimes leave her wheezing and I didn't know that they were so much louder, and there'd never been hacking, even when I was ill - I'd just always known that they were loud because they'd always had that rep all the way through school. (life in the UK started at school age, hence why I tend to have that separation) And that I'd had this for the winter last year to the point where they told me to go to the doctor's, and why I went to the doctor's this time. I asked why she thinks I made jokes about having to get a place by the river, and she thought it was just jokes. I pointed out that at times I was utterly miserable because of my lungs, no matter how much I loved London itself. And that no, I don't mention it the whole time, I make jokes about it like she does with migraines (I'd earlier yelled at her 'how about if I accused you of the migraines being for attention?') because it normally doesn't come up, it's just something I'm used to. She asked about the doctor, I told her she hadn't been able to find anything, and all the tests had come back clear, the next test is for allergies. Only suggestion was the humidifier because I'd told her about it getting worse the drier it got. Which I've always known about re:dryness, because I never had the cough when I lived at the seaside and that it's worse and more prolonged in London. Realised that the coughing fits that tore a muscle were when I'd been working for a couple of months in Bracknell in what was essentially a hermetically sealed office.

So yeah. Not fun. Still in a bit of a state like I normally am after a crying and screaming match. \o/.

Oh, fic headers. may you ever reign as great big honking neon signs of 'DO NOT CLICK. YOU WILL REGRET IT. TRUST ME.'

Because, yeah, there's all those writers you only learn by dint of experience not to click on, because either you just didn't know how bad they could be, the ones who write subject matter you're never in the mood for, or you don't get on with their writing style (cs_whitewolf, who some love, I can see how they're technically good, but it's like Dickens. Cannot read), or some could be good, solid competent writers if they could reign in their impulses (laurab1, who has interesting ideas and the first bit's good if a little sugary but never knows when to stop), or some who are gradually learning and you've seen they've got better but write really interesting summary hooks so you always click, if a little trepidatiously (ru_salki99, getting better all the time but always that wee bit disappointed. and several phonetic spelling mistakes.).**

But, oh, headers. The lovely, lovely list of 'never, ever click'.

Spelling mistakes - When you can't get it right in the advert, we're not about to buy the product.
Not beta'd, with either couldn't be arsed or didn't have time - there is always time. and professional writers need editors.
Character names mispelled - do you even *watch* the show? (if it's a book fandom, even *worse*)
BDSM/Dark/Rape - there are very few writers I ever trust to get BDSM right. And considering yours truly is mostly a vanilla person, and if I can spot what's wrong? And dark is not what you think it is, sweetie. There is fic with not a damn ounce of blood spilt or bruising that is darker than you could ever hope to write. Rape? Never, ever a good idea.
OFC/OMC - We're reading fanfic, sweetheart. Not original.
OFC/OMC, Not A Mary Sue, Promise! - run away. even further.
'and they meet a strange girl' - Hello, Mary Sue, how nice to meet you!
high on pixie sticks! - take ownership of your own fic. It's not the sugar's fault. Admittance that you were drunk at the time, or 'er, I think I watched too much Blade Runner/Dynasty', is on the other hand a guarantee that it's probably amusing.
lol, giggle, excessive punctuation of any sort - oh hell no.
Please read and review! - we don't bother with beggars.
My first fic! - camouflage is much better. Don't try to pull the sympathy vote.
23/? - ...you don't know where it's going even by *now*?
user/author name contains 'spike' or is _insertnamehere_malfoy / the cool, 'edgy' character in a fandom - No, NO, UNDER NO BLOODY CIRCUMSTANCES. Especially to be used when said fandom's day is a wee bit passed. The only way you get me to click is if I know you from Adam.

Any I've missed?

**I know there's probably plenty of people who have issues with my writing, what little there is of it. If you want to tell me my faults, feel free - no-one ever really leaves 'good here, but you really need to work on this' feedback - I'm interested to know, and considering I'm quite used to my betas ripping my work to shreds, any critique is good critique as far as I'm concerned. I have a skin like a rhino.

ETA, 04/03 : ...I could've compared cs_whitewolf to Michelangelo, Scorcese, Hardy, the list goes on for people I can see are damn good at what they do but don't particularly like their style. OPINION. MINE. MY JOURNAL. And did you miss the bit where I said I *always read* the other two? I've left bouncy feedback on the fic of theirs I liked, and occasionally leave concrit. And yes, I do always use specific examples when citing anything, good or bad.

Out there, there has to be a decent media site for gay and bi women. There are plenty of media sites for gay and bi women. But all the ones I've come across? They read like the bloody gay women's magazines.

To iterate : I long ago gave up reading magazines aimed at gay and bi women, and this is reinforced every time I go back to them. They're bloody boring. Not just boring. 'meh' levels of boring. So boring they're not even Moneybox and Any Answers levels of background boring, actively 'let me shoot myself so I am less BORED'. For a description : Gay Times is going through a very boring, earnest phase, but at least it's vaguely readable and the pictures are pretty. Attitude and Out and their ilk are fun and pretty and bitchy and shallow and a good read. All the gay womens' mags? They're more boring than Gay Times, with added Rhona Cameron. Trying to be perky but it's forced and horribly earnest and immensely irritating. Like being force-fed carob and constantly being preached that 'no really, it's just as tasty as chocolate!'.

Gay and bi mens' media sites? http://out.com and http://afterelton.com may be sometimes completely wrongheaded and shallow, but they're fun to read. http://afterellen.com is like being being made to read Rhona Cameron and Julie Burchill at once. ARGH.

Maybe I should learn. Never go anywhere near women's gay and bi media sites that have that much organisation and sponsorship. Stay with lj. Stay with blogs. Stay with webcomics. They're fun and insightful and pretty, after all. It's just that I'd really like to find a gay and bi womens' media site on the level of afterellen that's on the same level of the mens' ones. I want it. We deserve it. WE DESERVE SANDI TOKSVIG, DAMMIT.

Sandi Toksvig in a waistcoat and smoking jacket and a moustache with a pipe. Dammit.

Why didn't you tell me about this? Why did I have to find out through an icons post? (admittedly it's a very *pretty* icons post....) and one of the actresses looks really familiar and I can't place her. mutter.

Today's case of '...my god some people are blind' :

Someone on the JB list, in the wake of eps 12 and 13 airing in the US, went 'omg, since when has Captain Jack been Gay?' (and yes, they did capitalise the gay every time they used it)

See rest of list go 'er, I'm sorry, did you *miss* the entire series of Torchwood? All the Ianto comments? The stopwatch bit? His very first scene in Doctor Who, since you said you watched those? The fact that he snogged the bloody Doctor? Every single interview/review/tv guide snippet about the series?' 'ALSO : NOT GAY. OMNISEXUAL.'

Oh, and they also seemed unaware that John is gay. Even though he mentions it in, oh, every interview and the sheer amount of press he did for Torchwood's US launch.

Plus : Must smite those who capitalise 'gay' every time they use it in a sentence. Big. Deal. How about we capitalise 'heterosexual' every single time? Cause sweetie? It looks patronising.

Watching Superman Returns. :sigh: tiny screen really doesn't do it justice. Also, I heart Lex. And Richard. And Jason. And Lois. and Perry. And all the henchmen. Especially the henchmen. (okay, I may heart Clark too, but... just not as much as the rest of the cast. except the simpering girlfriend who I wonder why Lex keeps around, like all useless simpering girlfriends of really cool bad guys) That's one *shiny* film. Its prettiness is beyond compare - the only way they could actually make it prettier is to have used Michael Rosenbaum instead of Kevin Spacey. And to have strangled Parker Posey's character within two minutes.

Oh, just got to the bit on the island Lex grew from crystal + kryptonite. And as ever, my comments from when we saw it at cinema come flooding back : 'Lex, it may be bloody extra real-estate but hello, no arable? Also : it is very, very clearly brittle, which makes it kinda crappy for building owt on...'' Plus : please don't commit one of the first rules of Villainry : chucking the *almost*-dead hero off a cliff normally means he'll come back. Much better to let him bleed out in front of you. With a coroner's report.

Also, I have new boots. probably the closest to knee-highs I'll ever get given my calves. They're DMs, brown and rather nice, with many buckles that on their widest setting let me actually fit in them. ( boots! ) And when I get back to civilisation, I will steadfastly ignore the fleece-lined CATs I saw of similarness for about £20 more.

writer's block most of the bloody weekend. Not good in the slightest. First Indy and Jack were being fucking awkward about getting around to flirting, and *then* when I thought 'fuck it'and skipped to the smut, the smut was ... you know where you feel like you're writing stage directions rather than an actual event? Normally smut is *easy* for me, and not only was it an effort, I think I actually managed to make it boring. Indiana Jones and Jack Harkness. I thought it was actually impossible to write smut involving *either* of them that was boring. It kinda felt like the time Julie Benz described filming a sex scene - all directions and 'now flip, and pout, and don't mind the weird lighting and the three cameramen in there with you...' While writing, I flipped back to previous sex scenes I have written just to see what I was doing wrong. I remember the *damn process* of writing the Guy/Sheriff ones, and just how easy they were. Wailing was done about 'how can this be difficult? HOW?'. It's not even character problems, since I can normally channel Jack easily. After several attempts and going back and re-sorting, I eventually gave up and posted the fucker. darkisrising for anyone who wants to check - tell me if it's just me, will you? 2k words short due to the fucking block, even if the sex scene did dispense with 2k by itself as I'd predicted.

Hopefully the morning after and further adventures, which I've got either plotted or written out will do wonders. And after that, back to present day and spies, and bloody finally get to the *point* of this novel, which is the actual adventure to get the glove.

Having one of those days where I'm getting comments that veer from 'my word, leather trousers' and 'good lord, you so didn't get any sleep, did you' (humungous eye bags) to '...have you been shagging? you look good'. (clearly the problem with people who don't hang out with congoers; leather trousers are seen as going-out gear rather than '... I just can't be arsed to wear jeans today, really')

Utterly stupid news item of the day, read on the tube : Hedgehog turned in at a wildlife sanctuary to be put on a diet. Said hedgehog has over-eaten to the tune of now weighing 5lbs - ie, 3x the size of a normal hedgehog.

So, how overweight are the hedgepigs in your back garden?

And :eyeroll: Another case of the 'hi, you're new to the internet/message boards? Here's some simple etiquette rules. LEARN.' Logged into mail last night to be greeted with a message from the owner of one of the Robin Hood sites - some eejit on the comm had hotlinked to a scan on her boards, so she mailed me to tell me and ask them to take it down. Which I did, apologised, then made a stompy stompy sheriff post about Why We Don't Hotlink, aka 'Hi, Are You Paying For Their Web Hosting?'. With added 'at the very least, save the pic, upload it to lj pics and link that. with credit to the original site.'

Day started off with the train breaking down at Ealing Broadway, which meant I got into work at 9:55, as opposed to my usual 9:05. oh, and then got told the main server for actually *doing stuff* - xml changes, *uploading* said xml changes, access to any documentation on the server was down and it took them till 3pm to fix it. couldn't do any basic no corrections author checks because said so-called no corrections normally have at least one loose end like an errant url in the wrong place that takes, oh, 30 seconds to fix. :mutter: I wanted to look at the girl-wonder blogs during my lunch hour, but didn't have time between the stompy mod post, email and 'argh, only five minutes left! I need to book my damn ticket for Barrowman in Cardiff!' Oh, and spent a large portion of the day going 'new rules re: pre-live corrections!' 'which of you ed check people believes Colombia is in the USA or that Birmingham is its own country?'

And yes, the Barrowman album has been on repeat.