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March 6th, 2024
 | 02:43 pm
So many caring people trying to cajole a malevolent system into tempering its hatred just enough that we might, for a moment, uplift each other and forfeit nothing.
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August 23rd, 2014
 | 11:53 pm - Happy Birthday, Squall...
Surrogates has been posted to FFN, AO3, DA, FicWad, Tumblr and FictionPad, if anyone's interested!
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August 12th, 2014
 | 01:51 am - Old Habits Die Hard
Title: Surrogates (Final Fantasy VIII)
Type: One-shot
Word Count: appx 4300
When: In-game (Disc 1-2)
Characters: Squall, Ultimecia (as Edea), Seifer is discussed but not present
Warnings: Torture, some blood
Feedback: Typos/grammar, IMPRESSIONS, paragraph structure and clarity
Notes: I have to admit the entire reason I started writing this was to keep myself from getting annoyed at the "Squall is Dead" fantheory. It turned into an actual story, though. It also fits into the larger, over-arching narrative I'm working on and gave me a chance to see if I could mesh my personal headcanon with actual canon and not have it show. I think I did pretty okay with it. I apologize for any formatting hiccups: getting Docs to cooperate with DW/LJ is hellish. Additionally, there are some grammatical rules I deliberately take some liberties with in my FFVIII fics, and one of those is how ellipses are used. Where I can, I try to stay true to the feel of the character voices in the game script (sans some of the more egregiously broken English, of course). So I make some strategic use of ellipses here and there that I otherwise would not. Sorry (not sorry)!
( Tap, tap, tap, tap.Collapse )
Current Music: Alanis Morissette - Uninvited
Current Mood:  busy
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November 2nd, 2013
 | 08:09 pm
Recent events have prompted me to actually say something here, along with a healthy dose of _really really good_ barley wine.
I feel bad about not posting on LJ more. I shouldn't; honestly, social media has moved elsewhere and although I'm _terrified_ of LJ people finding my Twitter, that's more or less the only place I post online anymore. (Oh no, now that I've announced I have one, maybe I should tone down on the controversial social-justice-y shit that I tweet about blithely, thinking no one I really know sees or cares).
Things that are maybe new to this blog that are not actually new, time-wise: I'm...married? Yes. I am married. In New York and a few other states, but nowhere else. =\ That is what it is, I don't care to discuss or explain it, but I assure you it is a good thing! Whether you agree with that statement or not. =P
I'm currently working for Siemens Healthcare as a dispatcher of field technicians for their medical equipment. MRIs, bloodgas analyzers, the like. If your expensive-ass piece of subsidized and yet overpriced Siemens equipment is broken, it is my job to ensure someone gets out there to fix it. I hope you are reassured.
(No really, I do take my job seriously. Nothing says "urgency" like knowing in the back of your mind that some family somewhere is DEPENDING on the prompt results that malfunctioning machine returns. I do what I can to ensure it's serviced properly and promptly, and yes, our techs are ALWAYS on-call.)
I still live in NC. I hate it here and I love it here. I want our current legislature to fall into a pit. But I take comfort in the fact that most of the state shares my sentiment, even if they aren't crazy pinko liberals like me. I dislike the state politicians, but I really do like the state itself and its people. I feel like I make a difference here. That's a good feeling.
I recently found out I am allergic to white pine~~! Which means I'm allergic to pretty much every damn building ever made, and it explains why I can't go ANYWHERE without reacting constantly to something. What a thing to be allergic to. Almost all lumber in the U.S. is made of white pine. It's cheap, grows fast and is biodegradable, which means everyone uses it to build things. Fuck me. Explains a lot.
I still write, yes, I do. I don't share it much. I don't have a lot of time to complete things. I will show something when I have something to show. Mostly it's a set of very elaborate notes on my cell phone that never actually coalesce into a coherent piece. But at least it's written down somewhere.
That's...pretty much it for now. We recently re-homed a kitten Owen found living under our backyard shed. He looks like Charlie Chaplin, so we named him Charlie and that seems to have stuck, even with his new owner. Adorable little tux kitty! Glad he's safe and happy.
Will update again soon, hopefully. I need to write more long-form pieces in general.
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November 1st, 2013
| 11:14 pm - Whoa.
Um....I should post here more.
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June 12th, 2013
| 08:58 pm - Art art art - $24 commissions of ANYTHING (Please read)
So, Owen is a freelance digital artist, and he is having trouble filling his commission slots this week. We rely on these commissions to pay the bills and mortgage, so we need to get them filled ASAP (meaning before Friday).
He draws anything. ANYTHING. People, animals, dragons, still life, pr0nz, your obscure D&D character, whatever you like (as long as it isn't child porn or animal abuse or something gross like that). He livestreams commissions so you can watch him draw your art for you, also!
His FA gallery is here: http://www.furaffinity.net/gallery/aggrobadger/ (Yes it's very furry-heavy but he will be very very very VERY happy to draw something that is NOT furry art!)
And his commission submission information and link to the application form is here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4733464/#cid:34180378
Commissions are $24 per character + $6 for extra stuff like wings, complicated tattoos or whatever. You can ignore the $1 fee for e-mailing you the finished piece, he's dropped that fee for this week.
There are no limits on the number of commissions. You can order up as many as you like!
If you have any character or scene from a story you would like drawn, please consider a commission. Even if you can't afford it or don't need a commission, please spread the word so we can pay our bills.
Thank you! ~<3
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January 19th, 2013
| 11:19 am - Dog people: need help/advice
I'm having a serious problem with one of my neighbors that I don't know how to address. They have three dogs: one female mutt, and two female German Pinscher puppies about 4 months old. They're all wonderful, friendly dogs, I never have problems with them being terribly destructive or violent or anything, but they leave the dogs outside, unfenced, to run around the neighborhood all the time. ...And it's getting to be in the 30s and 20s at night now. These are short-haired, not-very-big dogs. The cold is hurting them. They run around all night and bark and howl and cry because they're literally freezing. The neighbors never let them inside. I've tried to go over there to talk to them when they're home, but the seem to be deliberately not answering their door when I knock and ring.
The dogs have no shelter, no food and no water outside. They are clearly fed and watered at some point, because they aren't malnourished, but that doesn't excuse the fact they have no blankets or anything to cuddle in or anyplace warm to go at night.
The dogs were so cold the last two nights (it was slush-snowing-raining), I opened the fence to my back yard and let them take shelter in the (empty) outside storage closet. I gave them a bowl of warm water, which they drank all of, and put down freshly tumble-dried blankets for them to cuddle in. I used one of the towels to dry them all off--they were soaked to the bone and shivering--and I set the door so it was mostly closed to the wind but open enough to let them out. I left the fence open so they wouldn't be trapped, as I don't want the owners accusing me of dognapping or anything. I normally would never, ever do this, because I am not a dog owner and don't feel I have the money or the experience to take care of such high-energy dogs, but I was afraid that if I left them out like that, they might actually get sick or frostbitten. I've done it the last two nights and I decided that if I have to do that every night this winter, I will. I don't want the dogs to get the idea that I'm their owner--I'm not feeding them at all--but they just can't be out there in the cold. They aren't cold-tolerant breeds. I also don't want them running out in the street where they could get hit.
I don't want to call animal control or the police because if the owners refuse to take responsibility for their dogs, the only ones who will be punished will be the dogs. There are a limited number of no-kill shelters around here and even if the dogs were taken from their owners, they probably wouldn't end up in a good place.
I'm thinking of trying to approach some of my other neighbors about the problem, but am not sure how to address it. I'm sure other people have been kept up at night by the dogs' sad wailing and I don't know if they'll all be as sympathetic to the dogs as I am. I don't want one of them deciding to just call the police on the dogs. I do want to try and work out a solution.
Does anyone have some ideas? I really have never been in this situation before.
UPDATE: So I talked to a couple of my neighbors about the dogs. I caught them eating birdfood out of the birdfeeders today, so I went out and checked on them. Upon closer inspection, I could tell they were all rather skinny (I could just see their ribs and spine without stretching their skin at all, and their sides were slightly sunken). So I worked up the courage to go around ringing doorbells until I got someone who was home.
Apparently I am indeed not the only person who has been feeling sorry for them. Apparently the owners have not been feeding them regularly (if at all) and NEVER let them inside, ever. The only reason they weren't in worse shape was because a few people took pity on them and fed them from time to time. While talking to this neighbor, two others came up to us and we were all thinking the same thing: what the hell is up with these people and why aren't they feeding or housing or fencing their dogs? I pointed out (to everyone else's horror) that the puppies are getting to be old enough to have their own puppies and did not appear to have been spayed, as there was absolutely no hint of a recent scar on their undersides (I know modern methods don't leave as much of one, but they still leave something, and you could clearly see the puppies' bellies and there was nothing, so I think it's a safe assumption). The last thing we all need is more underfed puppies running around the neighborhood. None of us had the immediate space or resources to take care of them, though, and we had all tried to talk to the owners, but either were unable to get them to answer their door or got a very evasive, shrug-so-what attitude from them when they did.
No one wanted to call animal control or the SPCA, either, because although the puppies are super cute, appear to be full-blooded (or close to it), and might stand a chance of being adopted, the older dog was clearly a mutt and has a bit of a hip issue. She's also slightly food aggressive towards other dogs (although not to people, who can take food away from her without so much as a growl), and we're afraid that would get her automatically put down in a shelter.
So this is what we worked out: since the owners don't seem to give two shits, and I'm the only one with a fenced-in yard, I will be providing shelter for the dogs in my shed. I don't have money for food, toys, and collars/leashes, so my neighbors will provide those things weekly, and since I cannot be outside most of the time, one of the other neighbors will come let them out to play for a few hours daily and then bring them back to my yard. One family in the house across the street will be moving into a big house with a large fenced yard soon, and when they do, if the owners still haven't said anything, they will take the dogs and foster them until an actual responsible home can be found. So hopefully there will be a happy ending to all this.
It's one more thing for me to deal with, but I feel like it's necessary. You just can't leave your dogs unfed, unsheltered, and unfixed 24/7 in extreme temperatures.
I cleaned out the shed of anything dangerous or vulnerable to chewing and put down aspen, tarp, and a bunch of old blankets. I made a makeshift dog bed out of an inflatable sled. I'm going to buy an adjustable infrared lamp for heat on cold days/nights, and a poop scoop for the yard. The dogs are in the shed now, have been fed, given water, and they are super asleep. Just. Dead fucking tired, all of them. I can't even imagine. I don't think they've had a safe place to sleep in a really long time. Poor things...I'm so angry at their owners for neglecting them, I can't even. I used to just think they were shut-ins and maybe a little ignorant. Now I think they're jerks. Thankfully, most of my other neighbors are not.
I'm open to any other suggestions, though keep in mind my funds are extremely limited. I have to make do mostly with what's on hand, and will have to budget for anything extra.
Current Mood:  worried
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October 31st, 2012
 | 02:15 pm - Happy birthday to me
*waves a little flag around*
*eats lots of candy*
=D
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October 10th, 2012
| 06:52 am - *crickets*
So...hi there.
I miss people, but I'm not generally the kind of person who starts conversations, so I haven't done much about that. Especially awkward is how lots of things have changed for me in a relatively short period of time, and trying to "catch up" would be kind of obnoxiously time-consuming.
To anyone who has e-mailed me in recent months and not received a reply--I apologize. I probably got the e-mail, read it once, planned to respond to it later, then never got back to it. I'm not actually at my computer as often as I'd like to be--check that, I'm at my computer frequently, but only for short bursts at a time. When I DO have a ton of time at my computer, I usually spend it writing. I don't have the long stretches of time I used to to devote to responding to e-mails the way I'd like to. Maybe I should adopt a more Twitter-esque method to e-mail replies.
I hope people are doing well. I want to stomp on just about all of civilization, but that's not new. =) Otherwise I am generally okay. Can't sleep tonight, which is probably why I'm unwisely blabbering on LiveJournal about nothing in particular.
Wish I knew more people where I live. The fact I'm a hermit to begin with is pretty bad, no knowing or making any real attempt to seek out friends in my area has not helped my social skills at all. I found myself kind of e-stalking some dude I saw on a forum who lists his location as Raleigh, finding his Twitter and FourSquare, just because I find him entertaining in post text and think he might be cool to hang out with. I've never said a word to him, though. Creeper much, Luna? Caught myself doing that and decided it was very unhealthy, so LJ it is.
So the beta reading thing was kind of a bust. I got a lot of useful feedback, but too much of it conflicted and it was hard to sort through. I think it will be a lot better if I just finish the damn book and let people read the whole thing before critiquing.
A note of advice, though: if a writer sends you a piece of work and asks you to critique it, I don't care if they give you specific instructions to tear it apart piece by piece. Don't swear at them in your response. Don't call entire paragraphs of their work "sloppy" (even if that's what you think). Don't say "I didn't spare your feelings in this because I respect you and I would assume you want me to be completely honest with you." Don't do that. You're not being smart or classy. You're being a condescending dick, and your feedback is all but useless because your tone makes it damn near impossible to discern your rage!opinions from objective observation. If you really hate something, just say "this style really isn't my thing." Not "this is the kind of self-congratulating and wildly masturbatory nonsense I'd expect from a thirty year old living in his mom's basement." See the subtle difference? It's a useful one. ;)
In other news, I'm gonna be 31 this year. Huh.
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July 17th, 2012
| 01:38 am
Dear Wikipedia,
Things that should not be acceptable under cited works:
1. Dead links (should be deleted and the claim should revert to "needs citation")
2. Links to Amazon.com book pages (could be abused for advertising purposes)
3. Links to Google searches. Seriously? D=
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