✰ between one heartbeat and the last

MY PRESIDENT

poshlil — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 04:42:39 GMT

Oh, America. I am proud of every single one of you today. Well, okay, not so proud of the 48% of you that apparently did vote for Romney, what the hell is wrong with you lot?* But four years ago I made a post while sobbing into my keyboard because you guys made the right choice. You have no idea how happy I am that I can make that post again.

*This is actually a more amusing sentence if you've seen the Future Sailors Tour dvd

Thank you. From me, from Cherie (who's been sharing excess feels with me all afternoon), from the countries who won't now suffer because Romney fucked your government over. Thank you so much for giving a truly decent man a second chance to improve your country - for you and for the rest of the world. There is hope for you yet. Stay awesome, yeah?

(OH. and I made a wallpaper. It's adding to my ~feelings greatly. See? :D)

(cross-posted from the original dreamwidth entry)

Obligatory PhD update, #84.

poshlil — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 13:33:05 GMT

Word count at start of evening: just under 11k.
Word count at end of evening: 11 275. Brought to you by the shiny new word counter on my (lj) profile.

It's not the best day I've ever had, but still a good one. Yes, that is what I'm referring to when I say writing this paper is like pulling teeth. I almost miss the days when 300 words was a third of the assignment. Almost.

(There was more, but it was basically excess flail about Ruta Gedmintas. Please know that flail occurred. That will be all.)

(cross-posted from the original dreamwidth entry)

I feel like I should do another music rec post

poshlil — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 12:47:02 GMT

But it's late and I can't be bothered, so y'all can have a meme instead.

True or False. Put an "x" if it's true.
[x] You've been to another city to see a concert
[x] You've been to another country to see a concert
[x] You've used an airplane/train/bus to get to a concert
[ ] You have driven over 3 hours just to get to the venue
[x] You've gotten to a concert like 3 hours early [I was working on it!]
[ ] You've gone to a concert the day before it's happening and slept on line
[x] You've been backstage
[ ] You've been to 7 concerts all in the same week
[ ] You've been front row more than once

I've Been To
[ ] 5 concerts (or more!)
[ ] 10 concerts (or more!)
[x] 15 concerts (or more!) (It's currently 16, I think.)
[ ] 20 concerts (or more!)
[ ] 25 concerts (or more!)

Have you ever seen your favourite band in concert/gig?
Yes. I've seen almost all my favourite bands live.

Did you ever meet a celebrity?
Yes. A few now.

Who would you like to meet the most?
That I haven't met yet? Anna Torv. Who is not a musician, so if we keep this centred round the concert thing, I'd like Kim's plan of getting Butterfly Boucher to play at Depot to actually work out, because when Katie Noonan was there, they had dinner together and I WILL BE ALL OVER THAT. I'd also like to actually meet Missy Higgins, she's adorable.

When was the last concert/gig you went to?
Missy Higgins, last month.

Where was it?
Newcastle. Five minutes away.

How many different cities have you been to to see a concert?
Six or seven? Most of them are in the same places, like Sydney.

How many concerts do you have scheduled?
Two. Both of them Butterfly.

When's the next one?
August 8th.

What was your first concert?
Craih McLachlan, I think, who was a ridic dogdy pop star here in the 80's. (He was on Neighbours. Every teenage girl loved him.)

Did you meet them/him/her?
Yes. And his single at the time was "Amanda", which of course led to him making bad jokes. My ten year old self was so shamed.

Are you a groupie?
No. I don't even know how I manage to meet these people.

Who's your favourite band?
At present, Fall Out Boy or The Jezabels. But that kind of overlooks the fact that most of my favourite musicians are solo performers.

Which performer have you seen the most?
At the moment, Tori Amos, Missy Higgins and The Dresden Dolls are all tied

How many of their shows have you been to?
Twice each.

How many hours have you travelled by car?
Once. This past Missy concert we took Kim's car, because it was so close. Normally we'd take the train.

Plane?
Once, but I don't know if it counts, because we were going to NZ anyway.

Top 3 cities to see a concert?
I don't know. Ours are always in theatres that look like every other theatre. Melbourne, for the food; London, for the culture; Athens, for the history.

Name your top 3 music venues.
Anywhere with good acoustics and not more than 300 people

Name your top 3 bands
The Jezabels, Fall Out Boy, Muse.

Why do you travel for these different artists?
Because I like them? And because my life would be terribly boring if I didn't.

What is a crazy concert story?
Doing shots with Amanda Palmer post-gig. No, I'm not joking.

Have you hung out with the band and/or artist?
See above. I also had a totally ridiculous conversation with the lead singer of Augie March midway through his concert. He gave me his guitar pick at the end of it. (I swear, I'm the most un-groupie person you will ever meet, IDEK.)

Do you have travel buddies?
Yeah, I saw Tori and the Dresden Dolls with the same group of friends, and usually if I go to a concert it's with Kim or someone close to me.

What's the longest you've waiting in line for a GA show?
A what? Posh Lil does not wait in lines. She buys tickets on the internet.

Any memorable waiting in line stories?
Waiting to get into Snow Patrol was memorable, but only because we were getting steadily rained on. What sort of venue doesn't have a covered waiting area?

Best show you've ever been to?
Tori Amos, 2005. I'm not even going to pretend I still love her like I used to, because she's lost all her magic and her latest stuff is so blah I can't actually listen to it. But at the time of that show, I'd been waiting 11 years to see her, and the whole night was like I'd died and gone to heaven.

Your favourite song to see live.
Probably Tori's "Cooling", which is one of (if not the) all-time favourites of hers. But it depends on who I'm listening to at the time.

Ever worked merch just to go to the show for free?
No, but I was asked to work merch on one of Missy's Sydney shows from her recent tour. I'd have loved to, as well, but the trains were all out. Haaaaaate, life, hate.

If you had to guess how many shows you've been to in your life?
Shows as in music is 16 or 18, but shows including theatre and musicals and other live performances is probably pushing past 150. I did theatre work for a solid seven years before I went back to uni, and went to SO MANY shows.

Drink at the show, good or bad?
Bad. Seriously, if you can't enjoy it without alcohol, WHY are you there? Drink and drugs are the reasons I don't go to festivals. (And the people, yes, fine. I dislike crowds.)

Do you have a 'beef' with other fans of your favourite performer?
No.

Any great after show memories?
Oh, loads. Far too many to even count. I've actually never had a bad show experience, so it's always a haze of feelings and squee when we come out.

In other news, I've turned a really troublesome dot point (the one that irritated me all last week) into a couple of hundred words of actual paragraph; I made marmalade (photos, or it didn't happen) at 10pm last night; I watched the first season of Lip Service again with Kim - who got it as a birthday present - and fell in love with Frankie again and SHUT UP, I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY, SHE'S WONDERFUL. ♥

Random paragraph will be random: I didn't go to uni because reasons (basically fuck all the trackwork and effort). I'm in the middle of a very comprehensive fandom post, to go with my less-than-comprehensive intro post. So many people I know are reading that 50 Shades garbage; I swear, this sound you hear right now is the sound of my judgement and scorn. Kim had a lovely birthday, thank you to everyone who sent tweets or messages. We didn't end up seeing Cabin in the Woods, because Roadshow are douchebiscuits and it's going straight to dvd here (wtf, seriously), but we did have a night of cocktails with Rachael, followed by a very satisfying Sushi Adventure™ the next day. OH YES, AND OUR FRINGE BOOK HAS SUBMISSIONS AND I HAVE ALL THESE FANDOM FEELINGS, ILU SHOW.

Now bed.

(cross-posted from the original dreamwidth entry)

I have a heart full of rubber bands

poshlil — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 02:09:41 GMT

It is still like pulling teeth to actually get any words on this page, ugh. All I want to do is listen to music and bake. Or make marmalade. Which I can't do yet, because I don't have a muslin bag for extracting pectin and I don't have cheesecloth to make a temporary bag and I don't have enough empty jars to put it in anyway.

Obviously none of this is not helpful in the slightest. And jb hi-fi aren't helping my mood any. It's Kim's birthday this Sunday, I ordered dvds for her about a fortnight ago, with an estimated two day shipping time, and I'm still waiting for two of them. Amazon UK have sent me two orders in the same time frame. ~~I mean, really, that's ridiculous.~~ - okay, just got a call from them to say that the "in stock" items when I placed my order were already committed to existing orders, and so mine is now a back order. But I can go to the closest store and they'll fill the order from their floor stock, which is lovely, and thank you for your customer service, you've restored my faith in you. [But seriously, if the order is delayed, how hard is it to send an automatic email going "Your order has unfortunately been delayed"? Amazon do it all the time.] AND the people next door are repainting their house, so all I can hear is a constant drone of sandblaster where they're rubbing back the old stuff.

My to-do list for today is to deal with the ~~eleven~~ ~~eight~~ two (!) tabs of things I have open, ~~track down what's going on with these sodding dvds~~, upload my writer's commentary (sigh) and ~~get from the "This is an interesting result because of reasons" to "SO NOW LET'S DISCUSS PLUTARCH" section of my paper~~ WHY YES, I DID ACTUALLY DO IMPORTANT SHIT TODAY. Thank you.

another edit: Lush just sent me this email which has practically made me cry. Thank you, Lush. I'll never again feel guilty for the shitloads of money I spend at your store. In the wake of Gloria Jean's profits funding sessions for "curing homosexuality" (see here), this is a very nice surprise.

(cross-posted from the original dreamwidth entry)

Un-fucking-believable

poshlil — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 04:54:37 GMT

(via my lovely friend Lauren on Twitter) This article on Queensland's changes to marriage and adoption legislation for same sex couples has literally turned me into a seething ball of rage. JUST WHAT. For fuck's sake, Australia, you're supposed to be a tolerant, forward-thinking nation. I am so ashamed of our country right now.

(And for the record, the article's obliteration of the 'e' from sex is also irritating me. What are we, two? If you are old enough to read about politics, you're old enough to read the word sex uncensored.)

** The lj version of this entry has been left public for anyone inclined to signal boost.**

(cross-posted from the original dreamwidth entry)

No, I am an author.

poshlil — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 01:35:14 GMT

Someone I know, somewhere, posted a link about a friend of theirs who had published a new e-book. If this is your friend, I APOLOGISE IN ADVANCE. But this article really rubs me up the wrong way.

Leaving aside Amazon's corporate immorality and all the problems I have with e-media versus traditional publication (and all the other problems I have with massive chains causing the demise of the small bookstore where the staff read what they sell, as opposed to looking at your blankly when you ask if X title is in stock and vaguely pointing out that 'Fiction is over there') I offer this quote:

"I am an author.

I still can’t get used to that title, but I suppose after having written seven books–five of them traditionally published–that’s what you’d call me... I spent months thinking that I needed a big publisher in order to be a writer, to legitimately carry that “author” title. To validate me, and to validate Flat-Out Love... "

Really, though? You need to have something *published* to feel like an author? Well, I'm sorry, but you're doing it wrong. I don't need my humanity reinforced to know I'm a human. Pianists don't need their songs recorded for all posterity to call themselves a musician. I AM AN AUTHOR. I write things. I don't write to publish them, I write because I was born to. Because without it, I'd be unfulfilled and miserable; because writing is like breathing. I write the way ballerinas dance and the way fish swim. Somerset Maugham (if it was indeed he; his quotes are always disputed) said it best: "We do not write because we want to. We write because we have to."

So to you, Jessica Park, I'd like to say - if the only reason you're writing is for your validation, your paycheck, your sense of gratification when the audience "falls in love" with your stuff, if what you really want is to be told "You're good enough", if you still can't get used to calling yourself an author after all this time, then you're not one. You're just someone who happens to publish words for a living.

(cross-posted from the original dreamwidth entry)

Ladies and gentlemen, my bff

poshlil — Wed, 30 May 2012 09:40:31 GMT

[transcription, 7:36 pm]

+ posh lil +: oh god, i just had the funniest idea
+ posh lil +: for a fringe vid set to the nasty english sailor moon theme. IT WOULD BE HILARIOUS
Teaberry: OMG WTF
+ posh lil +: IDK
Teaberry: WHY WOULD YOU EVEN
Teaberry: AND ALSO DO IT.
Teaberry: I WANT
+ posh lil +: i just hummed "fighting evil by moonlight" and thought of olivia and peter kicking people's arses in the middle of the night

(cross-posted from the original dreamwidth entry)

Yo flist!

poshlil — Wed, 30 May 2012 08:59:47 GMT

I'm taking a quick break from running product-moment correlation equations to ask - does anyone have an Archive of Our Own invite they don't need? I've a friend who'd like to join us on there, but has to wait some interminable length of time for an invite code. If you happen to have one going spare, we'd both appreciate it. Email/pm me if you like. Crisis solved, thank you star_healer! ♥

(cross-posted from the original dreamwidth entry)

Of language

poshlil — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:59:13 GMT

Why is it "ingratitude" but "ungracious"? They're the same root verb. This is why English makes no sense.

And because it's sort of related, I had thought, for one blessed moment, that I'd read ~all~ the foreign language books ~EVER~ on ancient biography. This morning I was typing up notes and found an article that's absolutely critical to one of my main thesis points. Its title? "Zum Bild Julius Caesars in der römischen Kaiserzeit".

... fml.

At least I can be happy that it's German from 1985 and not German from 1885? Because academic German from the 19th century is tedious and hard.

ETA: But oh my god, the bit where I can read something like "Wurde Julius Caesar oder Augustus in der romischen Kaiserzeit als der erste Kaiser betrachtet? Die folgenden Bemerkungen wollen versuchen, diese bekannte, fur die Periodisierung der romischen Geschichte wichtige Frage von bisher wenig beachteten Gesichtspunkten aus zu behandeln" and ACTUALLY understand it? Makes reading all those ancient, archaic books totally worth it. You were right! Immersion does work.

(This entry was brought to you by procrastination. And wine.)

(cross-posted from the original dreamwidth entry)

Dear people who vid -

poshlil — Sun, 13 May 2012 03:13:17 GMT

Assuming you are a reasonable beginner and don't do too many fancy effects, is it worth the hassle to rip the footage you want off dvd and convert it all, or would you just use the downloads you have and damn the embedded logos?

(There is nothing hypothetical at all here, and I think I already know what the answer will be, but humour me.)

ETA: An even less hypothetical - you guys who layer sound over your song track, what method do you use? These video clips are m4v's, but the sound is terribly soft compared to the song's m4a track, and I don't know enough about Premiere Pro's sound suite to know how to decrease sections of song volume and ramp up the clip volume. Or is the best option to extract plain audio files and put them on a third audio track? (tl;dr, halp?)

(cross-posted from the original dreamwidth entry)

BRB CRYING RAINBOWS

poshlil — Wed, 09 May 2012 22:30:35 GMT

A Dymocks just opened in Charlestown. (Lol yes, I was checking my spam, what?) DYMOCKS. AN ACTUAL BOOKSTORE. I CANNOT EVEN. There's been no real bookstore in ... anywhere between here and Sydney since Borders got shut down two years ago. I was starting to think no bookstores would ever open again, fuuuu Kindle and all your little minions.

And it's not just any bookstore, it's the one I first fell in love with. Bwaaa all their wood panelling and cream & burgundy colours. Oh my god.

I am possibly overly excited about this news. Whatever. BOOKSTORE. WITH REAL BOOKS. THAT SMELL LIKE PAPER. Brb buying all the things.

(cross-posted from the original dreamwidth entry)

Oooh!

poshlil — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 01:37:00 GMT

It's raining like anything. I find this hilariously appropriate because of the fic I just ficced. TOTALLY UNSUBTLE LEAD IN TO:

People always ask how I deal with my entries. Quick tutorial: I have eleven million journals. :"> Most of them are unused. My personal stuff gets posted at Dreamwidth and everything is crossposted these days, but should I throw a tantrum about lj and post the "I'M NOT CROSSPOSTING ANYMORE!!1" entry, you can still read my inane ramblings on biodamped.

My fic, fanmixes and anything creative goes to dw (stowaway) and AO3 (alyelle, with various pseuds). AO3 isn't totally up to date, so try Stowaway first. Because I believe in cross-site friendliness, there's also an lj feed: stowaway_rss. You can't comment there but dw supports open ID login (there's a one off authorisation email) and AO3 allows non-users to comment also.

I keep an occasional photoblog, which I am trying to be more active with, at tumblr: paper & poppies (currently on hiatus). If you're interested, all you need to do is follow it. I don't use tumblr for personal journalling, just to track the Noel Fielding tag. Because of ~reasons~ (their crappy server), I find it very hard to get the site to load and so do not follow anyone back on there. Don't take it personally, it's not meant that way. In the event that your tumblr is relevant to my interests, I'll probably find it of my own accord and add it to my rss reader.

(cross-posted from the original dreamwidth entry)

:/

poshlil — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 23:39:25 GMT

I really should never follow links of links, because it always takes me to a place that makes me raeg.

Today I was link hopping and found an entry that begins:
Am I the only person who thinks Emma (and Jane Austen's work in general) focuses too heavily on the concept of marriage? and goes on to say There's nothing wrong with marriage; I just think there ought to be more to a young woman's life than finding Mr. Right.

To which one commenter replies:
I had to read Pride and Prejudice ... and I wanted to shoot somebody. Well, I never actually read it....Just got cliff notes. and, after some more diatribe, And if I'm remembering right, in that book she ended up marrying a jerk anyways.

All in all, it makes me fear for the future of literature, if these are the kinds of people studying it. Firstly, "Emma" is an ironic novel. If you can't understand that Emma's obsession with having Harriet and herself married and settled is an ironic commentary on 18th/19th century society, you a) probably missed the point, and b) definitely shouldn't pursue this line of study. Secondly, you cannot judge a novel from almost two hundred years ago by modern standards; yes, there is more to a girl's life now than finding Mr (or Mrs) Right. Back then? No. Women did not work, they kept homes and had children. If you're going to analyse the work, understand the mindset of the people who lived when it was written first. Thirdly, person who "just got the cliff notes", you cannot have an opinion. The end. You don't get to judge a book based on reading summaries, wiki entries, cliff notes, or anything else that is not the book. And finally, Mr. Darcy was not a jerk; he was a literary personification of prejudice, as Elizabeth Bennet was a literary personification of pride. This does not make him - or her - a 'jerk', or even a bad person. It makes them human characters in a novel that explores fundamental human concepts. And if you had read the novel, you'd know that Lizzy vowed never to marry unless for love, in a society that normally married for convenience or advancement (see Charlotte Lucas). Which means that even if he was a "jerk", he was the jerk she loved. Deal with it.

And this? This is why I dropped English and switched to Classics. Because the class was full of numpties. *dramatic tragic face* It's so hard to be a genius sometimes. (Dear Person B, that was ironic.)

(cross-posted from the original dreamwidth entry)

Fandom, why you annoy me?

poshlil — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 11:48:05 GMT

a) Dear Who fandom: you actually cannot hate on the new companion. Why? Because when I hated on Amy before she'd ever graced our screens, you practically tore me a new one. You cannot proclaim love and tolerance of all the things if you then do not practice it.*

* People who are annoyed because she is another young, white female/potential love interest, you are justified. Carry on. I hear your grievances and raise you one. Open letter is directed at the blind rage that exists because she is not Amy Pond.

b) Dear Fringe fandom: Olivia does not wear heels. Basically ever. Kindly do not insist on putting detailed lines about how her heels were clacking on the empty Harvard corridors/stone floor/pavement in your fics. It is WRONG, and if you so much as glanced at her feet in 99% of the episodes, you would know why.

c) Dear Hunger Games fans/fandom: this is just pre-empting anyone who wants me to get involved in it. I have less than zero interest in these books/movies, my apols to anyone who wants to squeal about it to me, or link me to anything regarding it. What I know of it is far too triggery for me to feel anything more friendly than mild disgust, so I'll leave that sandbox to you guys.

(cross-posted from the original dreamwidth entry)

Reasons why DW is awesome (and you should all join)

poshlil — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 04:47:44 GMT

In light of the total fiasco that is lj's latest release, I thought it would be nice to stop and thank the lovely lovely people at Dreamwidth for the service they provide us with. You guys are ALWAYS unfailingly helpful, and you listen to what we say, which is a beautiful change from how lj has been run for the past few years.

And since this is crossposted, these are things you may or may not know about Dreamwidth, which have basically improved my journalling life by 110%. My friend Kate also has this post, which links to two excellent other ones: Raemia's rundown detailing what happened and what is planned, and factionary's recount of how rude and condescending the people behind this change really are. That last one is also excellent for seeing exactly what was said in the beta release of this redesign, and how many fucks were given.

1. Expandable/collapsible cut tags.
Yes. You can open and close them right there on your friends page, no click through required. The "edit entry" link is also on your main page, so more more clicking to a new one. LESS CLICKING PAGES = MORE TIME FOR INTERNET.

2. Browsable icons and tags.
The drop down list is there but for anyone who DOES want to scroll through the pictures, you can do that too. There's a handy browse button on entry and comment forms to show you ALL YOUR ICONS. There's also an even handier "random" button for those times when you JUST CANT CHOOSE.

3. Better access levels.
On lj you can't subscribe to someone's journal without letting them see yours. Nor can you give someone access and not see their entries unless you get complicated with filtering. Here you can grant access (ie. let people see your stuff without you having to see theirs) or you can subscribe (ie. add a person to your journal so their entries come up on your friends page). More often than not you'll do both, but you don't HAVE to.

4. MORE ICONS.
250 for a premium paid account. You know you want 250 icons.

5. Did I mention the lovely owners, Mark and Denise?
Because they're lovely. They talk to you. They help you with problems. They interact with their userbase and have lives and senses of humour and are LOVELY.

6. Usability.
Unlike lj, dw is designed to be screen-reader friendly, low vision friendly, and mobile friendly. JUST FRIENDLY ALL ROUND, REALLY.

7. Subjects and preview on comments.
The guys over here are also fandom friendly, and well aware that subject headers are useful for warnings, triggers and roleplaying. I think their philosophy is generally "don't fix what ain't broke". (And on that note, they actually work through the site's known bugs until they're fixed. No random security breaches here.)

8. Import/backup tool.
Don't want to lose your lj stuff? You don't have to. There is a wonderful import tool that means you can import your old journal/s to your new one; tags, comments and all. If you're patient enough, you can also import your lj layout so everything looks familiar.

9. The beta update page.
I can't even tell you how wonderful this is. You can move modules and set it up to your liking. You can crosspost to one or several other journals. YOU CAN SEARCH YOUR TAGS. You can hide the shit you never use and don't want to see. It's basically the best thing ever invented. Come on kiddies, you know you wanna try this candy out.

10. The sponsor a free user program.
I currently have a paid account because of this. When it expires, I'm buying more paid time, because these guys have been awesome about everything since I joined, and they deserve all the support I can give them.

And if all that can't convince you, come over and try it out for yourselves. Dreamwidth is offering free sign ups (without an invite code) until the end of the year. And if for some reason you happen to miss that, holler. I can hook you up with one quick smart. (Also, if at a later stage, you have a whole community who wants to migrate, they're quite willing to set you up with a mass invite code. Seriously, when I say they're awesome, I mean they're AWESOME.) So come join me over here in the shiny corner, where you can read your comments without eyestrain.

I've left this public, so anyone who wants to pimp Dreamwidth out some, feel free to link here. The more people who support it, the better!

[crossposted] Morning!

poshlil — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 22:30:42 GMT

Lil is bored. Like, mega super, nothing to write, don't want to read, been-up-all-night-with-sick-girlfriend-who-is-now-sleeping bored. There's a meme doing the rounds on Tumblr which I rather like, so.

Synopsis + Shuffle Meme

Give me up to four actors, anyone you like. If you're especially lovely about it, you can also suggest a genre. I'll put my iTunes on random and use the song that comes on to create you a synopsis and poster*. :D Anyone who's reading this on lj and doesn't have a dw account, you can log in over there with your lj id, or you can pm me your choices.

* given how tired I am, the poster may take a while. The whole thing may take a while, actually, but whatever. GIVE ME SHINY THINGS.

flist cut

poshlil — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 14:10:49 GMT

MAJOR flist cut. Essentially I'm attempting to find my feet on lj again, and reading a 60+ flist isn't helping. Since my entries are mostly public, I'm using "friends list" as the equivalent of twitter's "follow" list. If I follow you elsewhere, chances are I lopped you off here until such a time as I can deal with a larger flist again. As to when that might be, I honestly don't know. My life has been decidedly overwhelming of late.

As usual, my standard "it's nothing personal and if you really miss me, feel free to email" disclaimer applies. You can all still see my entries. All this means is that you're no longer thinking I'm ignoring whatever entries you're posting. Because in all honesty, I'm not. I'm not seeing them to begin with; this journal has been on a hugely restricted flist filter since before Honours because I just didn't have time. And I feel like if I'm not reading your stuff, you shouldn't be fooled into thinking I am. So I love you, thanks for the fun, and I might see you in three years if I emerge from the light of the PhD tunnel.

I think this calls for "holy fuck"?

poshlil — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 12:19:57 GMT

In fact, I'm sure this calls for "holy fuck". Witness the email that greeted me on my lunch break. Specifically the second of the unread emails.

So completely and epically excited, I cannot even speak. My whole afternoon passed in a sea of ":D !! ... o_o ... :D :D :D !!!"

(comments locked; please reply with your lj/openID at the dreamwidth entry)

Out of interest -

poshlil — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 08:01:15 GMT

Can I get a show of hands on who actually reads my cross-posted entries? Because to be blunt, I don't see the point of ticking the tickybox and entering a bunch of info to crosspost from DW if no one is interested.

Also, it's time for my sporadic pimp Dreamwidth entry! Aren't you all thrilled? I thought so. But please, do read on. I have Things to Say.

Reading back through old news posts, I am reminded ~why I switched in the first place. The lj team drop such gems as "When LiveJournal, Inc., was launched in December the new team made it very clear that LiveJournal was going to change. We also said that we would respect the values and legacy of LiveJournal. But, we can’t ignore the fact that as LiveJournal nears its second decade it needs to make some business decisions", but their heads of company turn around to the media and call their users blackmailers, idiots and stresses the fact that people are a means to an end and that end is the cash in their coffers. (The interview from which that was taken can be found here). So if you're happy to be fucked over on a bunch of levels you didn't know existed, and you don't mind generating revenue for some condescending, pompous Russian pricks, carry on. If, however, you'd like to feel respected or even a tiny bit valued by the people who take money from you, if you want to support fandom and free expression and a bunch of other things Livejournal's terms of service policy categorically denies over and over again, give serious thought to Dreamwidth. Better, spend some actual time using it and learning what makes it more than an lj clone. Terms like 'read' instead of 'friends' are not insurmountable difficulties. The content improves every day, every time one more person decides to try it out, to post there and make new contacts. Your communitites can (and have) been imported. The staff respond to your questions, suggestions and criticisms. Hell, I've made friends with some of them. They're people like you, not corporate arsehats who don't know who their users are or why they use this site in the first place.

[And for the record, dreamwidth supports open ID, meaning you can log in with your lj if necessary, offers free invite codes to anyone who needs one, and is in the process of implementing cross-site reading. So you will be able read the entries of those people who are just too attached to this site to move. You know you want to try it. Also free accounts get 15 icons. *dangles the carrot*]

And while I'm on the topic of supporting fandom, Archive of Our Own isn't new, but is shiny. Pop over and try that out too - http://archiveofourown.org/ - there are loads of fics there that don't get posted anywhere else. I'm having a field day reading. :D

Today I -

poshlil — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 11:07:55 GMT

+ unpacked fifteen boxes of books that have been stacked in the library for three months
+ wrote two 100 word drabbles (both Adelle/Topher)
+ read an excellent 1POV Spike fic

It's weird not having uni stuff to do. So weird. I'm planning on decorating and unpacking and gardening and writing. MORE WRITING, I have missed it so. I'm not in a fit state of mind for my epic, so there is no piggybacking in NaNo for incentive. I am, however, doing wrisomifu, as I try and do every year, because it amuses me and puts me into a good mood, which usually equals better writing anyway.

I've decided to start with drabbles. Twenty six of them, one for each letter. I have A, S, F, and J. Feel free to give me a word for any letter you choose. I don't promise I'll use it, but you never know where inspiration will strike. (They'll all be Adelle/Topher, before you ask.)

There was more but it's gone now. Run and catch. The lamb is caught in the blackberry patch.

(comments locked; please reply with your lj/openID at the dreamwidth entry)

T-3, the #echo2 edition

poshlil — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 06:05:02 GMT

Currently my final edit is on page 39 of 54. The remaining pages of Jane's edited copy don't have all that much red on them. WHAT? DO YOU MEAN I MIGHT ALMOST BE FINISHED? UNTHINKABLE.

This morning Kim and I booked and paid for England. ENGLAND, PEOPLE. Mark your calenders (calendars? Whatever). I will be flying out of here on March 15th, 2011 and headed to the mother country! Um Syren - we land at midday on a Wednesday. Is there much chance of crashing at your place for the very first night before training to Exeter? We can do all the awkward "omg, you sound like THAT?" stuff before you have to have us for a week then. ;) (If it's inconvenient, don't fret. I have another friend in London and if it comes to it, we can get a hotel room. I just kind of fancy having someone English direct us out of the airport, since we'll be complete zombies by that stage.)

Currently on our list of things to do is:

Exeter - for a pub crawl with Kim's dad's friend Gary \o/
Bristol - to visit my step-mother
Edinburgh - possibly with step-mother in tow, and Sally, WE MUST DO LUNCH. Email me or something. I refuse to leave Scotland without at least harrassing you for coffee.
Durham? - on the way back from Scotland, for the historical. \o/ (/nerd)
Leeds - to visit Kim's grandma, York and Treehugger. \o/ Also for toffee. I love me yorkish toffee.
Heathrow - for Echo 2 and an epic party at Syren's place. \o/ x infinity.

We fly home on the 5th, and I'm not sure if we can but Tease and Chloe, if you're even vaguely around, I would love to see you guys too. I have no idea how to even get to Suffolk, but if there's a train, I'm there. (And Kim wants to go to Leicester as well. Am I going to spend a small fortune on rail tickets? Ohgod.)

Anyway, you British folk - hit me up. Email, text, whatever. I'll be planning a proper iterary as soon as my papers are printed, bound and handed in. Wish me luck!!

(comments locked; please reply with your lj/openID at the dreamwidth entry)

Intermittent DW-promo entry

poshlil — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 07:01:28 GMT

For anyone, anywhere, who may still be thinking about having a backup copy of their journal, or who want a fresh start, or who simply want to know what it's all about. This is Dreamwidth's advocacy statement and it still makes me smile.

People on Etsy and Ravelry might also like to know that there are now DW-based groups you can socialise in. Come join me and my other artsy friends, we'd love to see you.

I have several DW invite codes available, or if you're not comfortable asking for one of mine, you can request one at the Dreamwidth codepool: http://dw-codesharing.dreamwidth.org/

(This was left public so people not on my friends list can see it also. If you want to share it, please do! Link to it, tweet it, facebook it if you want. Reposting via lj is extremely easy these days, or so I'm told. And sharing the love for DW is what we're all about over there. So basically - pimp this with my blessing.)

This entry was brought to you by New Fandom and Parentheses

poshlil — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 06:05:51 GMT

There's actually a lot more to this entry than new fandom, but first: Dexter. Cos omg, i've gone through the first three series' in a little under two months and i need MOAR. Season four is downloading as we speak. In the meantime, we are watching S3 of the Tudors, to be followed with a rewatch of Ashes to Ashes before the next season of that starts. And hopefully S3 Damages will air soon too. I've come to the conclusion that my viewing falls into two categories: psychological drama or BBC.

The other night i ordered a metric fuckton of Lush, which turned up the next day (and they say Australia Post is good for nothing!). I have fallen in love with the solid shampoo and conditioning bars i bought (Karma Komba and Jungle) as well as the new facial scrub bar (Sweet Japanese Girl). And the best part is these ARE the non-SLS products, and the chemicals they do have are usually one or two to the thirty in regular shampoo and cleanser. Lush, i may have judged you too harshly. We'll see what my skin says in a week.

I'm listening obsessively to Muse (again, hurrah! My distaste for them has abated since i'm not seeing them mentioned in every second site i visit) and Mumford & Sons. God their banjo player rocks. At any rate, the Muse - audio and otherwise - is kick-starting book four of my epic (NO, MUSE. I need to write books one-three first!) and the M&S is calming me enough that i can spend a day on the thesis without Epic Raeg. \o/ This current paper is now well underway and probably 1/4 done. Not bad for a week's effort, especially considering i spent a good part of the week falling asleep. I think it's now safe to say the virus from hell (TM) has gone, and i can return to normal duty. *touches wood* I may also have promised Jenn (Jenn, are you Proper or Other?) to record my current fic once it's finished for her upcoming challenge at dd_plotbunnies (/free pimpage) - yay or nay? Your answers in comments please.

The time has come, the Walrus said

poshlil — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:33:52 GMT

Beagle wanted fishy pictures. You remember when Donna and the Second Doctor were this size?

Now they're this size:

With the ship for comparison. Notice the blotches on it? That would be Jack, sucking off the paint. >.<

Mah fish, let me show you them all.

And look! Jack's massive. He used to be half the length of that black filter tube. Now he's longer than it. If they keep growing at this rate, i'm gonna need a new tank.

I want to get some more live weed, since it's supposedly good for them, but i suspect between Donna and Jack, it will only last a week.

The camera battery is now charged so all the people who wanted pictures of Alice merch, watch this space. I have nothing of value to report about today, other than the fact that i added about 50 words to the essay before succcumbing to this god-awful flu that Karl had. I have since made soup, drowned myself under the shower in a (vain) attempt to warm up/lower my temperature, eaten Aspro Clear like it's going out of style and fallen in love with Greasemonkey's embedded content/placeholder remove script. No big ugly boxes of "this is an LJ placeholder" on my flist. Even better, NO MORE EMBEDDED VIDEO. \o/ Down with the ~~bloody Red Queen~~ video all over the internet!

(Not that i mind your video all that much. But i was much happier when YT made you link to their site, because embedded media slows up my connection like woah. Plus, i don't watch 95% of said embedded media so really, it's wasted on me.)

Doctor Lil will see you now.

poshlil — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:25:47 GMT

So i just got an email from my advisor with the seminar dates for this semester. And have seen MY NAME set for April 16th. Apparently i'm speaking on 'The Genre of Ancient Biography' - thanks for that, Jane.

I am so beyond tired that i don't even make sense now. Lil's heard it all already but the gist of it is: our manager has some form of virus and is attached to his porcelain throne night and day, and therefore not at work. Fine, ok, we have three other dispensers. Only yesterday, Miss Fakes Busy chucked a tanty after not getting a payrise and stormed out of the store; today she didn't show up at all and at one o'clock we got a phone call. She is "in hospital" and won't be back "for a few days". I nearly laughed right down the phone line at her.

So with just the two of us, the lovely Sim and i did four grand AND got everything we needed to do done. A Team for the win.

BRB researching the genre of ancient biography now. ^_^

PS: VOTE DONNA.