Draconin's Diary

Updating...

draconin — Sat, 15 Jun 2019 08:57:33 GMT

Hi all. You may or may not have noticed that I've not been posting for some time now. It was a combination of health issues and... just gradually moving away from LJ.

The health issues have been pretty severe. I've always had a weight problem but it got really bad (195kg) and was accompanied by high blood pressure, sleep apnoea, diabetes and, worst of all, atrial fibrillation. The last one developed from about mid 2017 and was the most debilitating - heart palpitations and utter exhaustion to the point where I had chairs in every room in the house because just walking from one room to another exhausted me. Walking 20m would send my heart rate from 120 to 200 (measured via harness in hospital). The turning point was a cardiac specialist who was totally blunt and said that if I didn't do something drastic I'd be dead inside 5 years.

So I finally bit the bullet and had gastric sleeve surgery. If you don't know what that is, essentially they cut away 80% of your stomach so that you simply can't eat more than a very small amount (~1 cup) and, more to the point, so that you just don't feel hungry any more. It's something that I'm still getting used to - a full meal is now something that I would have considered a snack before. I have to really watch what I eat and drink because I need to ensure that my nutritional requirements are met. I've not had any problems so far but I've been warned that dehydration can be an issue because you can't drink much at a time. Plus the surgery was *very* risky because of all my other health issues. As in make sure your will is up to date risky. It was the first time I'd ever had surgery in my life (just lucky up to now I guess) and it was a frightening leap off the deep end.

But (obviously) I survived and the upshot is that I have lost 45kg since October 2018 and am aiming for 80-95kg. It's cost me about $10 000 so far. I have good medical coverage or it would be massively more but it's well worth it.

The great news is that I'm already hugely feeling the benefits - I'm no longer on any medication for blood pressure or diabetes and my AF is massively improved. Currently I'm walking 1km in a heated rehab pool on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (my knees and ankles are shot so I can't walk distances on land) and my energy levels are unbelievably improved. I've gone from being depressed to the point of being actively suicidal to being optimistic about things and planning what I want to do in the next 5-10 years. Amongst which is penne4m and I being about to celebrate our 10th anniversary of being together. I owe her an unbelievable amount for her support and tolerance.

Will you see me posting on LJ again? Probably not, at least not with any regularity. I've moved on to other things. But I do occasionally check my friends list and think of you all. I'm incredibly grateful for the support, encouragement and entertainment that you all supplied and I wish you all the best. Thank you all for your friendship and your wonderful fics. :-)

LJ 18th anniversary

draconin — Thu, 27 Apr 2017 12:03:50 GMT

I *finally* figured out how to get this after seeing it on everyone else's. :-) It was being blocked by my ad blocker.

#mylivejournal #lj18 #happybirthday

draconin — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 11:25:44 GMT

I hope those of you who are celebrating Easter had a great time. I came from a family that was Christian in name only & even then we never celebrated Easter in any form. With me being an atheist it's very definitely just a normal weekend. Albeit one where the cops are giving double demerit points for everything so I'm being very careful with speed limits! :-)

Anyway, I slept in this mornign and then went out for a sushi lunch; my favourite sushi bar does all sorts of great varieties. Then came home to find that my house circuit breakers had blown. Fortunately the fridge & freezer had only been out of power for a while but the trick was getting it going again. Every time I flicked it back on it went out after a few seconds. I finally had to go through turning things on one at a time & managed to isolate it to a printer that's been misbehaving for a while. Time for the bin!!

I'm in the middle of school holidays at the moment and really enjoying it. It was a very long term and the first few days I slept for over 10 hours each night. :-) My partner penne4m is down for the hols & it's great seeing her in person instead of via facebook & messenger. Unfortunately I have to share with her family. Grrr.

Much ado

draconin — Thu, 06 Apr 2017 12:09:20 GMT

I'm having problems following why people seem so concerned about the change to LJ. They've sold to a new company - of *course* there's going to be a new terms of service.

I gather that this includes them having the right to read entries on your blog... How is this in any way different to what Facebook has been doing for years? I mean, yes loss of privacy. But did you seriously think you had any before? If so I have a great deal on the Brooklyn Bridge to sell you. For those in Russia and other countries that have political oppression I can understand how this might be an issue and I can certainly understand a mass migration on their part. But for us in the Western world? More targeted advertising - ho, hum, install ad blocker (if you haven't already).

I must be missing something. Can someone please enlighten me?

draconin — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 12:03:52 GMT

Somehow not hugely surprising...:-)

Your result for The 4-Variable IQ Test...

Mathematical

0% interpersonal, 10% visual, 15% verbal and 75% mathematical!

Brother-from-another-mother! Like mine, your highest scoring intelligence is Mathematical. You thrive on logic, numbers, things representing numbers, and sets of things that are sets of other things, with numbers nowhere in sight. You probably like the online comic called XKCD, and if you don't, check it out.

You probably knew you'd score "Mathematical" as you took the test, and mathy types are usually super-high scorers on this axis, and low on the others. Why? Because you (we) yearn for math.

Anyway, your specific scores follow. On any axis, a score above 25% means you use that kind of thinking more than average, and a score below 25% means you use it less. It says nothing about cognitive skills, just your interest.

Your brain is roughly:

0% Interpersonal

10%Visual

15%Verbal

75%Mathematical

Matching Summary: Each of us has different tastes. Still, I offer the following advice to the world.

1. Don't date someone if your interpersonal percentages differ by more than 20%.

2. Don't be friends with someone if your verbal percentages differ by more than 25%.

3. Don't have sex with someone if your math scores differ by over 40%. You might kill them.

Take The 4-Variable IQ Test at HelloQuizzy

Still alive!

draconin — Fri, 31 Mar 2017 13:37:55 GMT

Yep, I'm still around, just not posting a lot these days. But still reading. :)

There's only a week to go before the holidays between terms 1 & 2 and I'm SO looking forward to it. Mind you I'm not terribly happy that they've just demolished the house next door so there'll be construction noise all through the holiday break when I'm trying to sleep in. :-( But it'll be so great to catch up with penne4m. I talk to her every day on the phone but it's not the same. In the meantime there's a lot of marking and parents' nights at the end of the term, plus calling up parents and letting them know that their little darling really did not do terribly well on the last test...

Speaking of tests, it's always amusing to see how students can read a test question in a way that you never anticipated. For example: for a year 7 test (age 11), what would you answer if the question said "Write down three consecutive numbers starting with 5"?

Would you write "5, 6, 7"? That's what we expected. However a significant minority wrote some variation of "523, 524, 525". Fascinating how people's minds work isn't it? And yes, we marked it correct.

On the home front I'm finding it difficult these days as I'm incredibly tired all the time. I've been put on testosterone supplements but it's not helping much so far. And the injection is not cheap and very painful. But it's got to the point where there are a lot of mornings where it's all I can do to get out of bed, so if anything can help I'm pretty much prepared to pay anything. Depression is becoming an issue.

A very different approach to music...

draconin — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 08:51:28 GMT

The other day I ran across a reference to a band with a rather different approach. Thrash/Deathmetal, which is very much not my taste but I do love their twist...

I quote from a review site...
"Blöödhag tries to work on two different levels and achieves varying success at each. The first of these levels is being a gimmick band, and at this task Blöödhag succeeds tremendously. The band members have created the subgenre edu-core, a mix of educational lyrics and heavy metal.
Rallying under the motto, “the faster you go deaf, the more time you have to read”, they have gained a reputation for drilling the importance of reading into audience members’ heads, going so far as to throw books at fans during concerts. On their albums, they work to promote literacy by writing one-minute songs which focus on the life and works of different science fiction authors."

If you're really interested you can find them on Amazon & (as I did out of curiosity) have a listen but the lyrics are, quite frankly, unintelligible. Apparently they include a lyrics sheet with their albums, which includes such gems (for a song on Robert Silverberg) as “What you readin’ boy?” “A book.”. :-D

An oldie but a goodie...

draconin — Tue, 03 Jan 2017 10:16:56 GMT

I was cleaning out files on my computer and came across an old one that's become suddenly relevant again with the latest US election. You've probably seen it before but just in case you haven't (or want to re-read it)...

To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen... Elizabeth II:

In light of your immediate failure to elect a competent President of the USA and therefore govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary.)

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy).

Your new Prime Minister, Theresa May, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections.(yes, she is female – deal with it).

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated sometime next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour,' 'favour,' 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-ise.'Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').

2. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ''like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u'' and the elimination of '-ize.'

3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can't sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not ready to shoot grouse.

5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon.( Get used to it.)

8.You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, and dressed not with catsup (which is actually called 'tomato sauce') but with vinegar.

9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. New Zealand beer is also acceptable, as New Zealand is pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth - see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.

11. You will cease playing American football. There are only two kinds of proper football; one you call soccer, and rugby (dominated by the New Zealanders). Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies).

12. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America . Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the Australians (World dominators) first to take the sting out of their deliveries.

13. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).

15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (these are cookies, if you prefer the item you call a biscuit you will easily adjust to proper scones instead) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season.

God Save the Queen!

Post Christmas

draconin — Tue, 27 Dec 2016 11:20:41 GMT

Hi all

I hope you all had a great Christmas or, in the case where you're not celebrating that, a wonderful holiday. :-)

I had a relatively stress free day - as per usual, we had Christmas at my niece/nephew's place (they tend to alternate) and everyone brought food. My contribution was Tandoori chicken breasts (heavy on the yoghurt to allow for young kids' tastes) and a Wildberry Cheesecake (from the Cheesecake Factory).

Those of you who've followed me for a while will know that I have issues with Christmas. It's great to get together with family but because I'm unmarried with no children, I generally end up spending hundreds of dollars buying presents for hordes of kids and getting very little in return. And yes, it's all about the giving, and I really do love seeing the kid's faces but... when you've spent 4-5 hundred dollars and get gifts in return that are a) worth little and b) show no sign that they've thought about what you want then it's hard to not be "Bah, hum bug" about it all.

At the suggestion of penne4m and others, this year I bought "family" gifts rather than buying a gift for every child. It worked well and I still managed to retain my 'crown' of 'the uncle who buys cool gifts' while spending only $250 instead of the $500 I spent last year. I researched via their grandmother what games each family had and what they were missing, so that worked well.

Still, it was fun watching the kids open presents & they're finally at the age (mostly 8-10) where they're not quite so feral. *g* Psychologically, it's fascinating to see how they're still at the age where they believe in Father Christmas but are (according to the parents) starting to have doubts.

I really seem to have zero parental instincts. I just don't understand how people can put up with young kids. I've watched my friends get married and have kids and, as far as I can see, it just destroys them, financially and socially. They become unable to have any sort of rational discussion that doesn't involve minute descriptions of what their children are up to. And, yes, I know... I'm a teacher! But I've never been able to effectively relate to students under the age of about 13/14. Years ago I asked my Head of Dept never to give me classes in Year 7 or 8 (age 11 or 12) and fortunately she took me seriously.

Anyway... for those of you who are celebrating; I hope you had a great time and best wishes for a wonderful year. Given what a shitty year 2016 has been in terms of killing off the best of show-biz, I'm hoping that it's going to be a huge improvement!

Season's Greeting

draconin — Sat, 24 Dec 2016 13:11:40 GMT

If you don't figure it out, feel free to ask!

Image test

draconin — Thu, 22 Dec 2016 15:03:58 GMT

Hi. I need to check whether what I'm seeing is correct for others who don't have access to my account where the image is stored... Could someone please comment on whether you see one image or two? No need to do so if someone's already commented; anyone other than me is all I need. Thanks in advance...

Kudos

draconin — Sun, 18 Dec 2016 10:45:22 GMT

I've been re-watching Star Trek Enterprise over the past few months. I'm currently in season 3 and I have to say that I'm becoming more and more impressed with the acting of Jolene Blalock.

She's simply outstanding in her interpretation of a Vulcan and, having just re-watched the movies Reboot, Into Darkness & Beyond, I can see how she laid the basis for Zachary Quinto's portrayal of Young!Spock.

On a less pleasant note; you may recall that I bought a new car a few weeks ago. The universe being what it is, you may not be surprised to know that my next-door neighbour's visitor decided to back his truck into it the two weeks after I bought it! I'd reversed out of my driveway and was stationary in the road, changing gear, when the damn idiot in a truck who was visiting him decided to back out at full speed without checking behind him.

Free!

draconin — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 11:30:55 GMT

Last day of school today! The students finished on Friday and, after two days of meetings, I'm now finished for the year - on holidays until nearly the end of January.

I'm SO looking forward to being able to relax. One of the most common comments I get from people who aren't teachers is "The holidays must be great" (with the implication being that we don't deserve them). It's absolutely true; they are. But by the time we reach them we *really* need them. I am so tired both physically and emotionally that I don't intend to surface for at least a couple of days. I'm just hoping that I don't do my common trick of coming down with some kind of nasty cold/flu. My body seems to have the habit of saying "It's ok to relax? Fine, it's ok to get sick too!".

On Friday I have an 800km drive to Kalgoorlie to catch up with penne4m, who I've not seen for some months (we have a very peculiar relationship but it works). I'm looking forward to it in one respect in that I'm SO enjoying the new car. But it's a loooong way to drive in one day. I plan to use an audiobook of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries to stay awake if it turns out to be an issue. If you've not discovered that series (available both as books and as a TV series) then do yourself a favour...

In the meantime I'm chilling out with a bottle of nice Shiraz and a caramelized onion and goat cheese tart (bought not made). :-D

Only the young

draconin — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 10:57:33 GMT

You might appreciate this: One of my colleagues has a young daughter learning ballet. Picture her at the end of year 'concert' where the small kids display their skills. Generally to the great embarrassment of the parents.

Enter Miss Four-Year-Old with stick & ribbon. Not having much luck keeping it up and twirling but full of enthusiasm. Gradually decreasing in skill as fatigue sets in, finally wraps it around her ankles. Flops down on her bum as only a four year old can do.

Looks out at the audience and exclaims (very loudly) "Fucking ribbon!!".

Queue ROFLing of entire audience. Minus of course the parents who are quietly dieing.

Well....

draconin — Fri, 11 Nov 2016 13:10:25 GMT

It's been a bit of an interesting week hasn't it? :-(

I must admit to being disgusted, dismayed and other similar dis's about the US election result. I really expected right up to the last moment that sanity would prevail and Trump would be defeated in a landslide. What astonishes and horrifies me is that apparently nearly half the people in the US are xenophobic, homophobic, racist arseholes. I keep expecting to see a few gloating posts in my flist that require de-friending and yet the reaction has been universally "OMG, WTF??" so far. So I have to ask: "What the hell?".

On the home front I am due to pick up my new car tomorrow morning! Well, almost new anyway. I've bought a Toyota Camry Altise hybrid (petrol/electric) with only 8500km on the clock for $24K. New price is ~$30-32K so it's a good deal I think. The downturn in the mining industry in Western Australia has meant that there are a number of cars bought by people who expected to have lucrative jobs that are being dumped on the market as the jobs evaporate.

It's very frightening, of course, to hand over that amount of money in one hit & I'm currently gazing at a bank cheque for more money than I've seen in one place for a long time that has to be handed over tomorrow morning. I'm paying the entire price in cash (which helped discount the price) and, since I'm starting to prepare for retirement it's reassuring to own it outright. I only had about $15K to pay off on my house so I've re-negotiated the mortgage to $30K and taken the rest of the car's price out of savings. When I sell the old car that will further offset the cost. Anyone want to buy a (very) used 2007 Honda Accord Euro Luxury model for about $6K? :-)

The difference to pay off my mortgage is only going to result in a change from 3 years to six so it still means I retire with a paid off house & no debts. Not a lot of superannuation but still. One of the advantages of being a maths teacher is that I can always get work tutoring students who are finding maths difficult.

We're currently in the arse end of the school year; reports, exam marking and so forth. I'm *really* looking forward to the Christmas break which, in the Australian system is about 6 weeks. Healthwise I'm having difficulties at the moment: I have bursitis in my right hip that is VERY painful and is making normal day to day activities quite difficult. It's not a really huge level of pain most of the time, only about level 4/5 or so, but it's just so unrelenting that it wears me down. I had a cortisone injection a week ago that I was hoping would give me respite for a year or so. Instead it had no effect at all, which is very depressing.

Anyway... I'm hoping that you're all enjoying good health and good fortune. I know I should be posting more often but... I'm *reading*, just not posting. :D

Hmmm...

draconin — Thu, 13 Oct 2016 11:42:02 GMT

The new Doctor Who spinoff "Class" looks like it may be very interesting. :-)

Just musing

draconin — Sun, 11 Sep 2016 11:32:49 GMT

With the 50th anniversary just passed, I'm currently re-watching Star Trek Enterprise. I'm not sure if I'll get through the whole series again but I did enjoy it the first time I watched it.

In particular, I'm impressed yet again by Jolene Blalock's portrayal of Sub-Commander T'Pol. IMHO she really did a great job of balancing the Vulcan emotional supression with the charisma needed to make her character one that the audience could relate to. In some ways I think better than did Leonard Nimoy. Blasphemous I know but still. :-) He was the path finder, establishing a whole culture and succeeding so well that his successors were able to portray less emotion yet still have the audience fully relate to them. It amazes me in retrospect; imagine the originality in coming up with an emotionless character and expecting it to be successful in TV culture!

I also really do like the theme music. I remember it was a shock at first because it was so utterly different to all the other series. But it grew on me big time. It seems to encompass the whole ethos really well: "...But I will see my dream come alive at last - I will touch the sky..."

Well... damn.

draconin — Sat, 03 Sep 2016 11:55:05 GMT

As you get older you tend to get set in your ways. You set up routines and get very annoyed when the universe conspires to disrupt them. :-) For the past 10 years or so I've been buying a particular brand of lasagne from my local, because it's just WAY superior in quality to all the others. It's so handy to have something that I can just reheat when I come home tired from a long day. Not that I live on it! But it does make it onto the menu once a week or so.

So last week it was suddenly no longer on the shelf. How dare they suddenly change their stocking! Damn their lack of customer service, which should be oriented around keeping me happy! Some web research later on the brand name I found that, much to my glee, the factory that made it was located only 5km from where I live! I win: I could buy it from the source and bypass the mean supermarket that wasn't doing what I want!

Unfortunately, when I went out to the factory site I discovered that the reason they were no longer being stocked was that the company had gone out of business two weeks ago.

This is not good. This is the universe conspiring against me. penne4m's reaction was "Oh well, you'll just have to make it yourself." This is my partner in life being supportive?? No. While it's true that I do make a mean lasagne, the whole point was to have a ready to heat meal that required no effort on my part!

::pouts::

draconin — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 13:08:09 GMT

If you've not seen it, there's a *brilliant* ad for the Paralympics called "Yes I can" or "We're the Superhumans". Truly inspiring. Do yourself a favour and click. Sometimes they just get it right.

draconin — Thu, 18 Aug 2016 14:46:51 GMT

You may perhaps have seen it but if you want a laugh, check out this *brilliant* ad. It was featured on "Gruen Transfer", an Australian show about advertising. Which sounds incredibly boring but is actually hilarious if you're tempted to check it out.

Arrgh!

draconin — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 12:21:17 GMT

Anyone with a long memory able to help out? I remember a cartoon character from when I was young but I can't remember its name.

I know it was Warner Brothers and used to appear in Bugs cartoons but did it have a name? It's bugging me. :-)

To explain: I'm doing a maths exercise with my class where they have to use equations to make a picture. They're aiming for a viewing of all their results at the end of the term, with a chocolate prize (that's how you motivate my class!). Anyway, to get them started I used an example of a "monster I remembered from when I was a kid". My result is shown below and when I got home I started to research what the original had looked like, since it had been forty years or so since I'd seen it! And yes, I know mine doesn't look much like the original but it needed to be simple enough that I could build the equations with the class in 45 minutes! I suspect I was getting partly confused in my mind with Cousin Itt.

PC or not PC

draconin — Sat, 06 Aug 2016 09:57:34 GMT

"We see people accusing people of being racist and all kinds of stuff. When I grew up, those things weren't called racist."
- Clint Eastwood commenting about political correctness being out of control in support of Trump's latest ravings...

Well gee, Clint. Could it be because when you were growing up it was back in the days of apartheid & the Stolen Generation, when women were "barefoot & pregnant", gays were bashed and African Americans were tolerated as long as they didn't imagine they were equal? Those sort of attitudes are Neanderthal remnants that most of the world is, thank goodness, gradually growing out of. Don't you think it's about time you did too?

draconin — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 12:37:19 GMT

Thought I'd tell you about a conversation while paying for food this afternoon. I'd put two items on the bench & the man at the cash register had rung it up and asked me to put my card in the reader. At that point I realised he'd only rung up one of the two items...

Me: Aren't you going to ring up the cheese too?
Him: ::stares::
Me: You've only rung up the OJ.
Him: Oh. Yeah.... Thanks. ::cancels & re-does the transaction:: Oh, well.... it's Monday eh?
Me: Noooo.... actually it's Tuesday.
Him: Really? Huh... ::stares::

Hi to all of you! It's been a while since I've posted. I'm ticking along. :-)

If you've not read it...

draconin — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 11:50:20 GMT

I'm going to copy this one from my rec site because it's a great story that's finally drawing to a close. If you're after a good read and like the HP'verse then do give it a try.

catsarecool: (FFnet) A Marauder's Plan or (AO3) A Marauder's Plan
Fandom: Harry Potter

Sirius decides to stay in England after escaping Hogwarts and makes protecting Harry his priority.

This is an amazingly well written story. The complexity of cultural background invented by the author (political & familial relationships & magic, depth of motivations), the insight into the characters and, to put it bluntly, the ability of the author is outstanding. This is a story of political deals, mature relationships, realistic expectations and real people. It's the story that JKR should have written, to be honest. HIGHLY recommended.

Update: The final chapter is about to be posted in this story. If you've not yet discovered it or have been holding off because it was a WiP then do yourself a favour and read it!

Length: long (86 chapt as at June '16)
Rating: PG
Pairing: Harry/Hermione (but as a sideline, it's not a romance)

My goodies have arrived!

draconin — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 13:30:57 GMT

The postman delivered from "ThinkGeek" today - my Star Trek glasses and my Doctor Who tie. LOL Far too expensive but what the hell - you have to indulge yourself sometimes. :-)