...or possibly Washington DC residents.  In Cap 2, Steve goes to the Smithsonian to his own exhibit--the hallway and escalator kind of looked like Air & Space to me, but the topic makes more sense at the Museum of American History.  Anybody know which museum building it was for sure, or can point me at appropriate screencaps somewhere or something?

(I have not one but two WIPs that have to do with that exhibit, and another in germination, because my day job and my fandom life intersect in weird and fun ways sometimes.)

Thanks!

There are a lot of memes I obviously skip, but story is so important to who I am and how I see the world, it's impossible to ignore the '10 movies that shaped who you are now' thing that's going around.  And because I'm me, I'm going to add books, too.  ;)  It was super hard not to write up the reasonings behind them all, but if you're curious do ask. :P

10 Crucial Movies

1. Original Star Wars Trilogy
2. The Princess Bride
3. Notting Hill
4. The Little Mermaid (Disney)
5. Star Trek IV (Save the Whales!)
6. Singing in the Rain
7. The Three Musketeers (Sheen/Sutherland/O'Donnell version)
8. Finding Neverland
9. The Beatles' Help!
10. Short Circuit


10 Bone Deep Books

1. Beauty by Robin McKinley
2. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
3. Dealing with Dragons (and series) by Patricia C. Wrede
4. Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien
5. Strong Poison (and series) by Dorothy Sayers
6. The Winter King (and series) by Bernard Cornwell
7. Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
8. Time and Again by Jack Finney
9. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
10. His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman

These lists still leave out A Lot.  I can't even keep my favorite musicals to a top ten list, so crucial mind-and-soul-shaping books are dang near impossible.   

Right, so, it's May.  And I was excited for April because March is so long and was stressful and dreary except for the one week I was in Florida, but April was also stressful and dreary and exciting and weird and exhausting, and if May is the same I'm going to spend all of June with a blanket over my head.  Good things happened in April - I submitted for a writing fellowship, I survived school vacation week at the museum, the bird show closed, I got to read a bunch of stuff off my to-read shelf.  But I also got a short story rejection (expected, but still a bummer), I worked a huge amount of overtime, I got spring flu, my aunt died. 

So roller-coaster-y, to say the least.  Saw a lot of extended family, that was nice, but it was in the hospital and at the funeral, so not for good reasons.  You get the idea. 

And today I'm having one of those pre-headachy days where the sound of my keyboard makes my ears feel like they're being stabbed with knitting needles.  So I'm wearing headphones and practicing yoga breathing and trying to focus on how much fun I usually have at the poetry festival, which is this weekend.  I have fairly new staff helping me out with the art activities, which is a tad concerning, but I think it will all go smoothly.  And hopefully I'll have time to duck into a reading or two as well.

And meanwhile, at least it's stopped raining?

Eeeeeeee!  *bounces off walls* 

So, seeing as my brother (usual comic book movie coconspirator) and the Eagle Scout (very reluctant comic book movie watcher and mostly only because he's pretty much Steve Rogers anyway) work stupidly long hours, I took myself to the movies tonight because I was sick of waiting.

WHY DID YOU NOT TELL ME IT WAS SO GOOD?!?!  (I except princessofgeeks , she said it was good, and I trust her even more than Fury trusts Captain America.) 

Cut for spoilers, because there's maybe someone out there who still hasn't seen it other than me three hours ago?

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A generous friend/coworker has offered to nominate me for a small writing fellowship, application due soonish, which if received, would allow me to do awesome things like travel to Wales for a research and writing vacation, for instance. 

This is, of course, splendiferous and exciting and unlikely, but inspiring anyway.

Problem being, she thinks, based on the writing samples I gave her, that my poetry makes for a stronger submission than my fiction to this particular foundation.

I have written, but not attempted to seriously edit any of my poetry in the last 10 years. 

*headdesk*

...Anybody out there hiding a background in poetry that might be up for a little concrit in the next few weeks?

So February was not a quiet month!  Several of you heard all about it already, because I had your RL addresses and you got letters from me during the Month of Letters Challenge (a piece of mail for every day the post runs).  I also ran a very busy week of programming at the museum during school vacation week (on just the Monday holiday we had 2,300+ people...).  Plus I had 2.5 chapters of my current novel in progress workshopped this week.

And to top it all off, I wrote a flash fiction entry for the Three Minute Futures contest.  The top three entries get made into radio plays directed by Gates McFadden, so I *had* to do it.  For science.  And also to appease my hard-beating fangirl's heart.  I won't hear until April, but if you could put a good thought out into the ether for me, I'd appreciate it!  It was a 'hard' sci-fi entry, which those of you who know me know I have some difficulty with (no myth? no magic? inconceivable!).  It felt good to get something out there, though!

Plus yesterday on my day off I helped my mother at school all day?  And this weekend I'm playing Jenny on the Spot for the adult ed staff and therefore get to take a 2 full days of oil painting workshop at the museum for free. 

...I need a nap!

...

...and when I wake up, I need to go check out the latest SG1 Alphabet Soup, which I was too busy to even know existed until today, let alone participate in.  *sigh*

What other fun stuff have I missed recently?  Also, for the sake of research, any suggestions beyond Torchwood and Solomon and Gaenor for good movies to watch to get the cadence of Welsh conversation?  I have a copy of The Edge of Reason I haven't watched yet, is that worth it?

So, snow here in New England again, which I usually love, and can be relatively excited about because The Eagle Scout is taking me on a lovely cross country skiing trip this weekend as a belated birthday present (fingers crossed we actually make it north this week!).  However, in the cold and windy, slippery trek back to my apartment, with fresh powder covering last week's ice, I lost my footing and landed on my left wrist and now have a slight sprain.  Goody. 

Am drowning my pain in ice, ibuprofen, and Disney.  (May also apply alcohol.)

Non-spoilery stuff first:

1) I've been tracking my creative output in the spirit of Nanowrimo this year, putting all my writing efforts, original and fan, into the mix, just to see if I can get in the habit of a) seriously writing every day and b) forcing myself to finish stuff.  I've been doing really well staying on target, but today my brain just broke.  I've managed something like 180 words and then shuddered to a grinding halt.

2) As you know, life in nonprofitland is nonprofitable in general, requiring a great deal of love and energy and offering up returns in karma and soul-satisfaction.  Today, however, there was a very happymaking envelope in my office mailbox with the news that out of the blue, in return for all the effort of getting my exhibit reenvisioned, opened, etc., I got a raise.

3) So because my brain was broken and I'm in possession of a promise of a shiny bigger salary, I took myself out to dinner and off to see Thor 2, because none of my RL friends wanted to see it with quite the amount of glee I did.

And if you don't want to hear spoilers and uncollected nonsense about Thor 2, don't read any further. :)

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This one's for princessofgeeks , who has all the May!feels

The Drawbacks of Being Level Seven

Agents of SHIELD, gen, episode tag, 1.7 "The Hub"

= = = = = =

Agent Melinda May had absolutely zero intention of becoming Team Mommy, and so far she prided herself on having done a good job of avoiding it.  She absolutely didn’t believe in coddling, she wasn’t interested in getting all that good at comforting, and she was not at all willing to put herself in the position of too much caring whatsoever.  Not after last time.

But first she agreed to drive the Bus.  And then she agreed to get back in the field.  And then she found herself offering an unusually shaky Coulson support, to the point that he seemed to hear her even when she didn’t end up saying anything.  And then she had baby agents running to her in a panic because their team had been split up and sent into danger without backup, and May realized that she was in this thing up to her neck and probably always had been.

It’s not like you got to be Level Seven by staying out of things: May doesn’t know why she’s surprised.

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Too late for the Friendathon Frenzy, but ah well! 

To Make Your Soul Grow
by Lokei
Stargate SG-1, gen
Prompt: 67. Daniel and the teens from Abydos: They discuss the prospects of murals and art.

“To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow.  So do it.” ~ Kurt Vonnegut

When Skaara’s friends find Sha’re beginning to paint the story of the rebellion on the walls of the temple, they start yelling.

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