inalichenmanner

It's that time of the year again. If anyone would like to exchange holiday cards, respond to this (it's screened) or send me a message with your address.

After years of refusing to even leave the house on Black Friday, I went to Longwood Gardens this year. A friend and I had been trying to meet up there for two months, and it never worked out. She was in the area for Thanksgiving, so we went for it. It's absolutely beautiful, but my pictures don't do it justice. I needed a tripod, but you're not supposed to use them in the gardens. They weren't enforcing it, though.

Cindy had a good idea of using the video mode to get night time pictures, and that worked a lot better than trying to hold the camera still long enough for the exposure. All I need to do know is figure out how to edit the AVI files. There's a lot of background noise and conversations on them, and the picture goes all over the place whenever someone bumped into me. Can anyone recommend a free program to do that?

I bought some postcards with professional photos of the garden from previous years; I'll get those posted as soon as I get them scanned.

What color does the background of my website appear to be? It's supposed to be tan, but that can be a tricky color to get right with all the different browser/monitor/OS combinations.

One of these days when I get the time, I'm going to be working on my web site, and I'm trying to decide what all to add to it. I decided it probably made sense to ask the people who use it what they want.

So, what do you want? Story summaries in the story index, a list of characters and what stories they appear in, personal ramblings on fanfic writing? Something else? Do tell.

The second question has to do with feedback. I had an email recently that led to some interesting conversations; the person wanted to know if I preferred reviews posted on ff.net or if I preferred to receive them via email. I really don't care myself, it's just great to get feedback. Personally, I leave reviews on ff.net (or geekfiction or whatever), unless I'm sending certain types of comments. (Usually something like they forgot to take out their beta's notes, or posted the wrong chapter, things that don't need to end up permanently attached to the story.)  My reasoning is fairly simple - people skim the story listings and stories with more reviews tend to attract more readers, but the other person pointed out that people might feel more comfortable leaving an honest review if it wasn't public.

It got me wondering what other people thought about the subject. Do other writers have a preference? What about readers?

Website move
Since Geocities closed, I moved my stories to a new site. Let me know if you see any broken links or whatnot; it was a rush job getting things over there.

Creative cooking
I found out I can't tolerate Augmentin - you don't want details, trust me. I went to the hospital today for lab work, and there's not much they can do until that gets back. Until further notice, I need to limit my diet just a little bit. No fruit, no raw vegetables, no dairy except a little yogurt, no whole grains, no nuts, no seeds, nothing fatty, nothing fried, no spices, nothing acidic... I'm seeing a lot of chicken soup in my future.

Turns out the annoying head cold I picked up at the beach was a sinus infection. The doctor gave me free samples of an antibiotic, Avelox,  to use. I hadn't heard of it before, so I looked it up. I wish I hadn't - I'm half afraid to take it now.  :-) Seems it's a "drug of last resort", i.e. when every other antibiotic in the world has failed, try this one.  Not only is it potent, it has some wicked potential side effects.

I don't usually pay much attention to the possible side effects of a medicine, because most of them aren't serious and don't affect a lot of people. But I'm not sure I want to know how an antibiotic can cause tendon ruptures. I mean, digestive problems? Makes sense. Rashes and hive? Common side effect to medicines. Ruptured tendons and nerve damage? WTH?

Not that I expect any troubles - I've only had one bad reaction to medicine in my life - but I do wonder why the doctor gave me something so strong. One of its approved uses is for bacterial sinus infections because it kills any possible source of it, but even then the recommendation is to try something milder first.

ETA - forgot to include a link to cute photos of kitties play fighting. The photographer has a Flickr page with more great photos.

A Book By Its Cover, Chapter 9.

As always, thanks to vr_trakowski  for her assistance. This has become the fifth longest story I have written, and it's not done yet. Whimper.

First off:
Congratulations to cincoflex , vr_trakowski , spanky743 and all the others for their wins in this year's CSI Fanfic Awards. Also, thanks to everyone who took the time to nominate, read, vote and tabulate the results.

Freebies
I have a spare access code to download some really, really high-quality photos from National Geographic (26x16, 300ppi) and some other goodies. If anyone is interested in it, let me know.

Ponies and heron and gulls, oh my!
My trip to Assateague was a nice, relaxing time. I had success in spotting a herd of ponies almost as soon as I got there. They were in the distance, and the zoom on my digital camera is a joke, but here they are:

(Really, click on the thumbnail and view the full-sized photo. Those lumps are wild horses, I swear.)

They were making their way towards a wooded area that is accessible, so I scooted on over and started going through the trails trying to spot them. After about an hour, I admitted defeat, and decided to see if they had gone to the next area, so I headed back to the parking lot. As I got to the edge of the woods, I was surprised to hear a lot of voices - then I saw why. The dang herd bypassed the woods and were eating grass in the parking area:



Cute photo-op, but there's a reason it's illegal to do this. I found the same herd the next day, and one of the rangers warned me not to get close to one of the horses, as she had a reputation for going after people.



Yes, that horse is scratching its behind:


I included this because I've never had a window bench in a hotel room before, and the thing was amazingly comfy. I really liked where I was staying, and I'll be staying there in the future.



There are lot more photos. And I found some old 35mm film at home, so I dug out my old SLR cameras. If those turn out, I'll add more later. Now I have to deal with two needy kitties who have been hounding me - so to speak - since I got home.

I was recently informed that - as far as they can figure out - I'm the longest-running writer in the CSI fandom. Personally, I don't think "continuous" is an accurate title, as I had several long breaks, but I can't think of anyone who was active before I was who is still writing.

It makes me feel like I should be telling kids to get off the cyber-lawn, so to speak. "Sara would never say anything like that, you whippersnapper! Did you ever watch an episode of the show?" At the very least, I feel like I should have a better clue what's actually going on in the fandom, but I'm pretty clueless.

I'm finally making it down to Assateague for a couple of days - assuming my car doesn't blow up tomorrow or something similar. If all goes well, I'll be meeting up with a friend this weekend to go to Longwood Gardens. It's kind of sad - I live close to one of the world's foremost gardens, and I haven't gone in almost 20 years.

The family get together went well this afternoon, despite an overnight deluge of rain. It turns out I didn't need to worry about re-webbing the lawn chairs, as they had plenty of places to sit. At least they're ready for another gathering.

I should have the next chapter of Wormwood posted tonight or very early tomorrow morning. It's sad when you have to name your stories after fictional monsters. The last one that earned this distinction was "Cardinality"/Grendel, and I have nightmares that one is going to approach it in length. Yikes.

Well, the coast is under another flood advisory, so I won't be heading down to Assateague Tuesday like I had planned. But I still saw some ponies - grazing on the median strip of Rt. 40. They escaped from some local farm, I guess, but the state police didn't close the highway, and were trying to round them up with traffic still moving. Let's just say it wasn't a pretty scene. I hope they manage to round them up without any of them getting hurt or causing an accident.

When did lawn chair webbing become such an esoteric item? My aunt is having a big family gathering next weekend, and asked if I could bring some chairs. Mine have been in the garage for ages, and the webbing has dry-rotted.

I spent the day in three states looking for this stuff (not really a big deal - I live in a "corner" of the state). Four hardware stores, three Wal-Marts, two Home Depots and a K-Mart later, and I found enough to do two, maybe three chairs. I found some on Amazon and ordered it, but I don't know if it's going to get here in time for the cookout.

And to make things more fun, one of the cats apparently is either ill or angry. One of them decided to go to the bathroom on the bathmat carpet. Off to do laundry and mop the bathroom floor. Grrrr......

A Book By Its Cover Chapter 7

Thanks again to VRT for her beta help and wonderful support with Wormwood, the plot bunny that refuses to die.

Library woes and C.S. Lewis
My local library system isn't very good, although some really nice people work there. A while back, the library admin was complaining about the lack of support from the public. I wrote a letter in response, pointing out that while they had 12 copies of a political book that was out of touch with the majority of the local residents' leanings - and only seven people had checked out the books in total after two years - they didn't have a single copy of several classics.

One of the books I mentioned was C.S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters". Well, Friday I was checking their catalog again to see if they had another C.S. Lewis book VR Trakowski had recommended. They didn't, but they have added several copies of "The Screwtape Letters" - all of which are checked out.

But what's really fun is they placed the title in non-fiction. It's a story told in a series of letters from a senior demon to an underling on how to tempt people. In non-fiction. I don't know if this is one of the numerous filing mistakes the system is known for, or if they decided most people in the county would think it's a true story.


( Citrus update update - various pics and an irate cat )

Flooding
We had more than 5 inches of rain today. Most of it is in my basement. I'm not having a fun day. It's not like I had planned on getting any writing done this weekend or anything...

Writing
Voting is going on for the CSI Fan Fic Awards - and a belated thanks to whoever nominated my story! This is a nice way to recognize new writers and to find some great stories. And not so great stories...

Writing II
Speaking of which, there's been an influx of really, really bad Mary Sue Fics. In honor of the occasion, I recommend A Mary Sue Alphabet. It's in Harry Potter, but the Mary Sue-dom crosses all fic boundaries.

Citrus update
My little lemon tree is not so little anymore. I tried counting the number of buds on it the other night, but stopped when I reached 87 and hadn't covered two-thirds of the tree. It has three lemons that have almost reached full size. No idea how long until they finish ripening.
 

Earlier tonight, Quino came barging through the house, dashed behind my desk, climbed up the back of it to the printer shelf, jumped from there to my lap, put her front paws on my chest, let out a short, "Miow?", climbed my shoulder, jumped to the floor and disappeared.

I'm sure in cat logic, there was a reason for it.

"Hi!"
"Ignore me at your peril!"
"I'm going to cough up a hairball now!"

( Cat toons )

Turns out the attacker was a crack dealer there to sell to the creepy guy who lived upstairs. From what I understand, the cops were there to serve them their eviction notice this morning, but they pretended not to be home. They may be charged for aiding and abetting for providing the knife and then trying to hide it. My neighbor is on his way home from the hospital as I type.

---

After I finished laundry yesterday, I came upstairs to fix dinner. I noticed a local town cop was blocking our road. It was doubly odd in that we don't live in town, and the state police barracks is just down the road. I hadn't heard any racket, and the cop was checking the front of a car parked next doors. I figured it was in an accident and didn't think anymore about it.

I found out this morning at Harold, a guy I've known my entire life, is in Shock Trauma after being stabbed in the neck right in his driveway. (He's renting the place next door.) The details are sketchy at this point, and no one's home next door to go talk to. It seems someone was blocking his parking spot, an argument broke out, and the guy stabbed him. (There's also an apartment that's rented next door, so parking it tight there.)

This is a neighborhood that is very low crime, so this is really out of left field. Harold has a temper and got into some trouble when he was younger, so it's entirely possible he knows the stabber. I don't know the family that rents the apartment well, but the ladies are really nice and friendly. The guy who lives up there - no so much.

A story, "Sub Secreto",  now officially has been "favorited" more times on ff.net than it has received reviews. Which amuses me for some reason. And none of the people who "favorited" it left a review. On one hand, it's a nice compliment. You can leave a review for anything, but to mark a story as a favorite shows it some, err, favor. On the other hand, all it takes is a single click of a mouse and no effort. Still, at least I know someone bothered to read the thing, and that's always good to know! :-)

On the plot-similarity front, I had an email exchange with the other author in question. In summary:

Other Author:  "What similarities?"
Me: Lists plot points that are the same.
OA: "Oh? You think they're similar? I never made the connection. Do you think anyone else will notice?"
Me: <bangs head on desk>

Way back in the Dark Ages, when I first started writing CSI fic, I struck up conversation with a very well-known CSI writer. In the course of some IM sessions, I mentioned some story ideas I had. It would be fair to say that I was more than a little bothered when those ideas showed up in stories she posted soon afterwards. Needless to say, I never mentioned another plot idea to her again.

I was writing to an author in another fandom recently, and I was talking about some plot developments in an upcoming story. Yesterday, she posted a story that had the central premise that was damn similar to what I had told her. It's a totally different type of story  - mine will be angsty, her story played for comedy - but it doesn't change the fact that one of the central points of the story is practically verbatim what I told her I planned to use in my story.

So, I'm screwed. She's established in the fandom as arguably the best and most popular writer therein; there's no way I can write my story now without people thinking I stole the bloody idea.

Yeah, I'm in a really peachy mood right now.

It's been too long since I did an evil cliffhanger - A Book By Its Cover, Chapter 6. Lots of thanks to VR Trakowski for all her help and encouragement with this story, especially considering it's not a fandom she knows.

And I never posted my last CSI story, did I? Even enough to fix: Reunions.

A Book By Its Cover, Chapter 5 Thanks to VR Trakowski for her beta services on this.

Is anyone following this story, or am I wasting my time posting updates here?