Hello there! If you're Canadian and willing to help out a red-faced American with a simple question about Vancouver, I'd be gratified if you would check out my question here and let me know your thoughts.

ETA: This is all set now. I wasn't the dork I feared I was. So, never mind, and thanks!

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... I'm still learning. Today's lessons:
- A recently-used toaster oven is not, repeat not, an optimal hand-warming device.
- Minor burns, like paper cuts, sting all out of proportion.

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I'm not doing NaNoWriMo, not formally or properly. I've got too many WIPs as it is, and I'm too addicted to both editing as I go and jumping between stories to really feel motivated by the standard formula.

But I figure I might as well see if I can use the month many others are using for writing to see how much progress I can make. So I'm noting my current counts here, and I'll try to check back at the end of the month to see where I've gotten.

(I should note that I was inspired by a similar idea from bratfarrar over at writers_lair.)

( Counts inside )

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Title: Like Thermodynamics (sg_prompts #29: Luck)
Author: michelel72
Series: Crossover? (SG-1 timeline, pre-SGA)
Genre/Rating: Gen; Teen for themes
Wordcount: ~2400
Timeline/Spoilers: AU of SG-1 5x14 "48 Hours"; includes spoilers for SGA 3x08 "McKay and Mrs. Miller"
Warnings: Major character deaths; a little gore; dark.
Disclaimer: Plot mine; Stargate characters and environments not mine. (Transformative work.)
Notes/Credits: This is not in the same continuity as my "Remorse". I won't be continuing this 'verse, but anyone else who wants to pick it up may feel free. Beta by (and my profound thanks to) valleya and greyias, who helped me with characterization particularly and who reinforced my faith in the beta process; any remaining errors or problems are of course my own.

Summary: Unlike Sam Carter, Rodney McKay did not rely on luck … and unfortunately for everyone, he was right.

( Like Thermodynamics )

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Some people on my flist have silly or quirky conversations amongst their family and friends. My household tends to sound more like the following:

Kittens: ::gambol::
Jasper: ::NOM::
Kitten: Squeak!
Me: Hey! No! Just because the baby's head can fit in your mouth doesn't mean it should!
Kitten: ::gambols away::
Jasper: ::sulks::

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Yes, New England's weather is historically unpredictable. Yes, metro Providence gets snow every year.

I still say that snow in metro Providence in mid-October is wrong, wrong, WRONG. The foliage has barely even started to turn! Bah.

Anybody out there interested in being the beta for a grim little story? Headers below. (I'm not in love with the title, incidentally.) If so, comment here and we can arrange email of my MSWord document or access to a locked html or whatever is easiest.

If no one here is interested, I may go check sga_beta or may just post with no beta, despite my convictions on that matter. :> -- M

ETA: Two lovely volunteers who have my thanks. Yay!

( Headers )

Bleh. This isn't formed at all, but it's in my head now, and it's bugging me, so I'm tossing it here to try to get it back out of my headspace.

It's not that I liked or agreed with that classy post on the genrefinders. It's just that some of what I've seen in comments in discussions around the topic ... bug me.

( Disliking a character is not inherently misogyny. )

Title: Never Bet Against (SGA Flashfic AMTDI Challenge)
Author: michelel72
Rating: Everybody
Genre: Team; gen; silliness.
Wordcount: ~1500
Timeline/Spoilers: Vaguely early season five, I suppose.
Warnings: None, I think, except for a lame probably-not-even-pun.
Disclaimer: Plot mine; Stargate characters and environments not. (Transformative work.)
Notes: I've never done flashfic before, but I'm trying to learn how to write anything non-angsty and anything under 15,000 words. I only missed the suggested upper limit here by half again, so that's actually pretty good for me! I'm sure this has been done before, but it popped straight into my head when I saw this challenge and I couldn't resist. I'm also breaking my own rule against posting without first using a beta, so please feel free to let me know of anything I missed.
Crossposted from sga_flashfic.

Summary: John really should have known better than to bet against Ronon.

( Never Bet Against )

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For those folk who have been interested in rewatching Stargate: Atlantis, in recognition of the recent release of the series box set, I've posted polls asking whether sga_rewind should stick to its current schedule (with double-up posts to let the boxsetters and other latecomers catch up) or should restart; and asking whether we should continue to use a weekly schedule or switch to an alternate-weekly schedule. If you've been interested but thought you missed your chance, here it is again! Feel free to join the vote — and the comm! — if you haven't already. I'll be closing the polls midmorning Friday (US EDT).

violetcheetah provides another photo album and a video clip of the kittens at one week old. The darker kitten has eyes a bit open, and they both are now old enough to purr.

For those who are interested: The kittens were born Saturday, and violetcheetah took pictures on Sunday. So they're a little old at this point, but still cute.

Jon Carroll recently quoted "a useful rant from reader Ray Welch"; this is phrased succinctly enough that I think it deserves greater distribution:

We live in a country where many people think it's great, even imperative, for the federal government to snoop on our phone calls, e-mail and library records, to deploy a private militia accountable to no one (Blackwater, or whatever it calls itself now), to give the president "unitary" powers during a state of perpetual war, to hold people under arrest indefinitely without charge and torture them in undisclosed locations, to search without a warrant (using so-called national security letters) and to disseminate internal propaganda, but bad, even evil, for the federal government to manage health care, because that might give it too much power, which it would abuse.

My government can detain me indefinitely without a warrant and turn me over to Blackwater to be tortured, and lie to my family about where I am, but a federal health care program - now that is verging on totalitarianism.

( Warning: profanity and recrimination. )

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I'm sorry, baby. I am so sorry.

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I signed the burial paperwork with bloody hands. Fitting.

Jenny turns out to be the heroine of a bad historical romance. "Unhand me, you cad! Stay away! Don't touch me! Release me from this dread captivity! I hate you! Wait, you're ignoring me? I never noticed just how dreamy your eyes fingers are. *swoon* I love you! I love you!"

I mean, it's rewarding to have earned her trust and affection, but the literally "overnight" thing is kind of disorienting. She's a real sweetie, though. And wow is she ever pregnant. She looks like she swallowed a soccer ball -- one of the little ones for the rugrat leagues. Or a softball at the very least.

ETA: I just felt one of her babies move! Eeeeee!!!!!

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In other news, I just broke 20k words of notes for my unplanned sequel. OMG, people. I think that's officially OMG territory.::headdesk::

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My SGA story Remorse is the flavor of the month gen discussion of the month over at sga_talk. Yay! So if that's your sort of thing, please feel free to head on over. (I'm thinking of adding a comment about the sort of things I'd like to know from readers, including what didn't work, because I know I have trouble finding good topics to discuss about other folks' stories ... but I'm holding off for a little while because I don't want to be all Rushy McHastypants about it.)

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So several of my friends and acquaintances have asked me what the cutoff is for "crazy cat lady". I've answered that I don't think "five" qualifies. Sure, that's more than enough, but they're all rescues and needed a home; that was hard enough to do before the economy nose-dived. (Nose-dove?)

The cast of cats, for those who haven't yet met them:

( Daisy )
( Gonzo )
( Winry )
( OJ )
( Jasper )

And then we have Jenny; I just caught her today. She's a weensy little thing, eight pounds but not really even that.
( Jenny )
She's not exactly feral, since I was able to pick her up with some planning, but she is not fond of people. She's also pregnant. ::headdesk:: I mean, that's why I brought her in, so that her babies aren't born wild, but still. (Probably not even a year old, unspayed, left to run wild. I hate people so very very much.) So, yes, that makes six ... and counting. I have options for the kittens, and I'm hoping to place rather than keep her, but ... still. Gah.

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violetcheetah will tell you that I am horrible at recognizing people, including actors. Horrrrrrrrible. She has grown quite practiced at the "Are you blind?!" expression when I mention finding some actor interesting.

I missed spotting Paul McGillion in the new Star Trek; I'm not remotely surprised. I also managed not to recognize Simon Pegg in the same film, which is pretty much inexcusable. I completely failed to recognize David Nykl (Zelenka!!) in Sanctuary. And I just learned that Dr. Tess Newman (Eureka) = Lt. Laura Cadman (Stargate: Atlantis).

Subclinical prosopagnosia FTL?

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So, as I've previously mentioned (at great length), I'm long-winded. (See what I did there?) When it comes to prose, I've never been able to convey much of anything in short form. I just crossed 15k words of mixed summary-and-scenes for a sequel I never meant to write -- to an 18.5k story I never meant to write, either!

I tried short form, I figured, and failed.

And yet I'm writing drabbles now. Like, more than one; like, old-school hardcore exactly-100-words drabbles. Pretentious as all get-out, mind, but ... they're short! Yay me!

Short post is short.

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