weekly round-up

[boogieshoes]

so this week has been a bit argh-inducing.  not horribly bad, but one of those weeks where everything i try has an annoying ending.  see, this week, i was/am supposed to check out the YMCA, try the elliptical, etc.

except monday, i ended up going home at noon because my stomach was really upset.  i don't know if it was something i ate, my medication, or PMSing hormones, or a combo of all three, but monday was a wash.  which i knew it was going to be anyway, because while i was stitching *sunday* night, i realized rent was due monday, and i needed to get home and pay the rent, after which i wouldn't want to go back out. 


tuesday morning, while i remembered to toss the 'workout backpack' into the trunk, i forgot to add shoes, and i didn't remember *that* until mid-day.  the rest of the day was similar - i totally would have forgotten my head if it wasn't fastened on.  i went to a shoe store after work looking for cheapy canvas tennies to wear while working out at the Y, and couldn't find any, so i came home.

wednesday, i was dragging so badly i'm kind of surprised i didn't end up with rug-burn on my knuckles.  i take a stitching project to work mon-wed to work on at lunch, and i was really excited to start a new one, which is a small Dimensions project pictured here.  but i was so tired i screwed up the fabric orientation, and didn't catch it until halfway thru lunch.  and then i decided screw it, i ain't picking it out, it'll either work or not!  *snorts at self*  so i came home straight away and took a nap.  was online for a bit, then the connectivity went, and i went to bed after playing a few rounds of mah jongg.

today, for a wonder, i'm still at 257.4.  and i'm perkier than wednesday, which isn't that hard. :-p  i need to get in touch with Comcast today, because ever since the storms tuesday, i've been having serious connectivity issues, and i know i experienced a powerout at home, because the VCR has no time on it, and apparently, the fireplace turns on after the power comes back on.  (which is creepy, dudes.)  but it's almost like the signal isn't back all the way, despite the fact that i get the cable fine.  (it comes in through the same cable outlet in the apt, so...) 

it wasn't all bad this week:

i finished the stitched panel of Tegan's basket-top; i need to sew and put it together, which will happen this weekend with any luck.  hence, the new stitch project i screwed up, heh.  so far, i've managed to misplace at least one stitch in every project i've ever done, and i've been stitching since i was 18 or 19 now.  i predict the new project may be the first one i've ever gotten completely right - *and* completely wrong!

monday, in the evening, i managed to finish putting batting on the chair and stapling the blue fabric down the sides.  i even put beaded trim on one side before i gave it up (around 9pm, i try to be polite to my neighbors and not work on 'loud' projects after before 9am on weekends and after 9pm, ever).  i mentioned to some of my chat-friends that i hated 'wasting' all the staples in that project.  i swear the wood is actually veneer-covered iron, sometimes!  the staples don't always go all the way or *any* of the way thru, and the next-higher-powered staple gun is one for the professional crew types, i think, and i *ain't* buying that!  otoh, the fabric and beaded trim look *fabulous*, and i can't wait to show y'all pictures.


i'm working on two ficlets - one with Chris in a stitching group, and one that's, well, a reaction to a personal situation.  i have a very good friend who's married a guy who's turned into a giant douche, and i'm really pissed off at him for making my friend A cry.  but A told me not to take him down a peg, and A can probably kick my butt, so i'm respecting her wishes - albeit with gritted teeth.

it occurs to me in both of these ficlets, i have an avatar-char that's been beaten up and tortured.  and there's Andy in the Mag7.5 series, which is a Sentinel cross-over.  and if i ever get around to it, i think it's going to pop up in the sequal to 'One Night in Bangkok' (the TS/ OW crossover told from Chris' POV), and even further back in the mists of time, i'm pretty sure *everyone* is a torture victim in the 'Blood on the Stone' series, which is the ATF/TS apocalypse-is-coming AU that, um, has been on hiatus since 2006?  and i think i just have a kink for presenting myself as a tortured soul being taken care of and fussed over by my favorite characters. 

part of it, i'm sure, is because sometimes it feels like it's harder to deal with vague emotional wounds than the physical ones.  part of it is pure loneliness on my part.  part of it is an attempt to sabotage my avatar into becoming much less effective than *i* am, because frankly, i'm my own worst Mary Sue (all i'm missing is the healing!cock). 

but i'm also going through a process of trying to reduce/ eliminate 'my own role' in the stories i write.  i'm working on making the avatar characters not only less and less central to the plot, but also, more and more different than my real self.  possibly, it's a weird way to learn how to write *other people*, specifically, *other females*, but i think it's a process i have to go through.  to date, 'Green Day' and '7th Gift' are the only stories i've written without an avatar-character in them, and as JD is sort of a vehicle of exploration for some of my own issues in 'Green Day', i'm not sure that story counts completely.  not necessarily a bad thing, but a thinky thing.



speaking of Mag7 and Micheal Beihn, i'm starting my own political campaign:  Beihn for president in 2012!

see, i have this theory that Osama bin Laden died sunday not because of Obama, or Bush, or any other politician, but because some random cable channel was playing NAVY SEALs sunday evening.  Micheal Beihn plays Lt James Curran,





and of course he kicks $$$ in the movie.  but i'm thinking Osama's death is sure and certain proof that Beihn kicks ass across time and space, because he's JUST THAT COOL.

and because i've officially designated him MY HERO WHO CAN KICK ALL KINDS OF ASS, and because we clearly need some serious ass-kicking done in DC, i've decided to get on the campaign trail:

MICHEAL BEIHN FOR PRESIDENT: KICKING ALL KINDS OF ASS,
FOR ALL KINDS OF US.

that's my story, and i'm sticking to it!

-bs

Comments

[slavelabour.livejournal.com]

I'm still laughing about your MIA healing cock. :D

Weight loss! *high-five* And I'm glad you're feeling better. I don't have the emotional side of PMS (one of my sisters does, ON TOP of the endometriosis) but probably only because I refuse to be social at that time of the month. If I tried to be social, things would probably get ugly. T-Rex ugly.

I was having this chat with someone last night but writing is always what you make of it. Not all of us are interested in accolades and feedback and presenting everything to the public. Some stories are drawer fic from the start. Personal. Write what makes you happy, right? It's a hobby, enjoy the hell out of it. If that means presenting one of your characters as a woobie or self-inserting a character into a fic so your boys can take care of you then I say rock on, baby. And, seriously? I LOVE how you are introspective enough to try to figure out why you're writing what you're writing!

Navy SEALs is pure Velveeta and I love it SO MUCH. Pure h/c with a side of slashy hoyay. Now that I think about it, there should be more SEALs fic out there. :D

[boogieshoes.livejournal.com]

my pattern lately re PMS has been 1 day of hyper, 1 day of emotional wreck, and then the day before i start bleeding, 1 day of fatigue. days not always consecutive. most of my 'PMS' is actually on period - cramps, fatigue, tension headaches. this one has been a bit weird for me, because something seems to be up in the side-abdomen area, that i can't really figure out what. oh well, it's over, yay!

re writing - i agree, really i do. and some of the stuff i write is obviously (to me) emotionally healing stuff, and i don't mind that. what i'm more interested in is this process of trying to find a way to 'tell stories' that don't actually *involve* me.

i don't know how other writers started telling stories - i just read an entry talking old toys, and skeletor riding a MLP to do... something. but the point is, they were telling a story about characters that *weren't themselves* as young kids. i don't think i ever actually did that. when i told myself stories, i was always the prime mover/ central plot point of the story. that habit persists to this day, and for the purposes of escapism, it's fine.

but when i write fanfic, i want to be *able* to write stories that don't involve me, in any form or fashion. it's not just that the Mary Sue factor - i can control the personality, etc - it's that if i want to make it realistic, it's not an interesting plot (really, horridly boring person here for all that i can do a lot of my own stuff). and i want interesting plots - *and* to write plots that don't revolve around me, but real issues, real possibilities, etc. I can totally see myself making an interesting side-note character, someone that gives a little bit of color to the home-life.

but as part of the main action? i'm interested in cop-buddy shows. the closest *i'd* get to an investigation is an NTSB thing - and that's a whole level of different from say, a drugs for guns deal, or terrorism.

and i *want* to write about drugs for guns deal, or botched FBI ops, or real scary domestic terrorists, and i want to do it well. i've got things to say using the mag7 and TS characters, and i think i can do it well - but a character based on *me*, my life, my personality, my doings is a *bad* vehicle for those stories. really, really bad. and i want to write *good* stories. :-p

basically, it's all about balance and transition - balancing the stories i tell in my head with things actually likely to happen and be interesting, and transitioning to writing *other people than the ones on screen* effectively. this is a learning process for me - and frankly, i'm all about fun while learning. i took a karate class once because i thought i was interested, and scared the crap out of the teacher (he didn't like us using Sensei, because he felt he hadn't earned the title as a 'mere' brown belt) because i kept grinning like a fool the whole time i was in class. the thing was, i was *learning something new* - and that's the most fun to me of all.

and of course, part of learning is internalizing and recreating then creating - hence introspection.

NAVY Seals was kind of amusing. and then i looked up posters on it for a future post, and there's this one promotional poster where Micheal has his arm about Charlie Sheen - *while they're in dress blues* (the uniform equivalent of formal business wear). and one, that's *completely* slashy, but two? *totally* inappropriate, although it made me laugh so hard i nearly peed. good thing i was at home when i found it.

and there should totally be more SEALs fic out there.

-bs