"a heap of broken images"

Nano: Let's play catch up! Starting at: 9008

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:52:47 GMT

I'm starting out at 9008, having written all over 3k over the course of the past five days. Degree of suckage displayed in the following chart:

Okay so tomorrow I have to go out and run errands so let's see what I can do with today...

Edit: I love how the above widgets change every time I update my word count. The weekdays were all an angry shade of red when I started out. They look more mellow now. ;D (Or at least when the widget is working properly...)

Edit #2: Actually manged to spend some time on my latest fic, which will get included in my wordcout anyway. So I actually have 1298 words of good quality amidst the rest.

EDIT: Total for the weekend: 7506.

Nano

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:16:08 GMT

Let it be said that I have no idea why I'm doing Nano this year. Maybe peer pressure. I should have been finishing my edit, or working on my fic but instead I started my Nano and I went to a write in. Results are as follows:

At home: 947
At write in: 4552 (867 from a word war)
Total:

Yeah the old word meter I usually use no longer works and the Nano ones are temporarily unavailable so at least there's this one.

Huh? Is October realy over?

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:52:04 GMT

I've had a cold the past week. Not a bad one, but enough to render me rather fatigued by the end of the day after work. The result was that I didn't go to the Kick-off party for Nano and I'm behind on basically everything.

I can't believe Nano starts at 12:01 tonight. I don't even know if I'll still be awake then. Last night I felt awful by 11:00 and had to crash. And enthusiasm? I seem to be lacking the energy to muster any. I've been feeling run-down for two weeks.

On a happier note, I finally managed to procure a 16GB MP3 player. A Sony this time. I will miss some of the features on my Sandisk, though (I've had the same model for the past four years. But still 16 gigs will be useful at work.

Speaking of work, my geeky coworker badgered me into putting together a last minute Halloween costume to wear to the office on Friday:

Nnano and matchmakers and Twilight! Oh my!

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:11:21 GMT

Hello there. I am alive. I've been feeling a bit under the weather this past week and I was totalled Friday night and most of Saturday so I slept in and I took it easy, tried to stay away from my PC as much as possible. One of my coworkers has the flu and I'd very much like to make sure my system is in top shape so as to stay healthy myself.

In other news:

1) I'm getting really close to the finishing the final edit of my story so yay progress.

2) It seems that once again I will be (for reasons that I can't realy explain) participating in Nano. Woo-hoo. One month of writing badly. But at least this year I should be able to avoid being bored as I'll be writing about dragons. Dragons are fun, right?

3) An old friend of mine, whom I haven't seen in... say... nine years, is again trying to set me up via facebook. She did this a year ago and I told her not to and it pisses me off. She says we have a lot in common... Yeah because it's not like my interests would have changed in the intervening decade or anything. Clearly the fact that there have been few outer changed in the landscape of my life means that my personality and interests have remained static as well, right? I'm sure the fellow is nice and I'd be fine with speaking with him but a) I don't find him attractive at all and b) her interference makes me want to run in the other direction.

He sent me a friend request and message I didn't respond because I've been feeling tired and no so good and figured I'd deal with it later but now all of a sudden I got a message from her too which leads me to believe he told her I hadn't responded and she decided to stick her nose it. Grrrr. I don't like being toyed with. I don't like interference in my life. And the presumption that I've not changed in all these years offends me greatly. I don't like how manipulative she's being with the whole thing either. She should fix her own life before she tried to fix mine.

4) I saw the Twilight movie. It wasn't as cheesy as I had expected. I don't think I shall ever be a fan of the series but I understand better why it appeals to teenagers so much. I wasn't impressed with the dialogue (and why does he sparkle?), but I can appreciate that the drama and the angst and the love story are probably things I'd have enjoyed when I was fourteen -- my general dislike of vampires notwithstanding. Bella probably wouldn't have done it for me, though, even then. I've always liked heroines who are powerful, who can do amazing things, not ones who have to be rescued by their preternatural beaus. Eowyn was always a favourite of mine. I was sixteen when I read LotR and Eowyn was my hero. I loved her to pieces. I still do.

Engrish

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:15:42 GMT

I have a Master's degree in English literature and this language still confuses me sometimes.

In the course of working on my final draft I have come to realize that I'm inconsistent in my usage of the past tense of the verb "to leap."

I checked, and it turned out I had five instances of "leapt" and fourteen of "leaped." I suspect the latter to be more US than UK.

In any case, I really want to get this done before the end of the month but I still have over a hundred pages left to wrestle with. Ugh.

I also need to decide whether to put myself through the yearly torment that is NaNoWiMo. Do I really want to write 50k of exceedingly bad fiction for 30 days?

Subject: See icon

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 23:06:05 GMT

I wanted to share this photo because I find it at once amusing and distressing. It's the sign above the parking lot of an apartment building a couple of blocks down from my office:

Life and whatnot

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:04:34 GMT

Is it sad that the only times I feel really inspired to post is when I have something snarky to say? Like about grammar or reviews that make no sense?

I will, however, attempt to write a real post...

Like goes on as usual by and large. Highlights are as follow:

1) The completion of my latest fanfic, the Artemis fowl one I had posted a snipped of in a meme in July when it was only 7,000 words long. It's turned out to be my second longest at 38k words, second only to Legacies which was 42k. It needs to be beta'ed but once I start posting it'll keep readers busy for fourteen weeks. Not too bad, eh?

2) In an attempt to appease us for the wage-freeze, our company is giving us the Friday before Thanksgiving off. Woot! Four-day weekend coming up soon!

3) I have opted to not take Japanese class this year. I just... don't feel like it. So after much agonizing, three dreams in which I dreamed I was in class but then remembered I hadn't registered and worried about not having my checkbook with me to pay the school, and a random email from the school which was misaddressed to me, I am not going.

4) The weekend before last I did the Parkenson's walk. It was very sunny but I brought water and thanks to mingbutterfly I even remembered to put on sunblock. I happily retain my computer tan. ;) The walk took place in Andrew Hayden park which was a long the Rideau River. It was quite lovely, though we spent more time waiting for the walk to begin than actually walking. Also, our company gave us its patented volunteer shirts. As luck would have it, they were the same colour as the walkathon shirts of that year so we fight right in.

I swear you could have see us on satellite in those shirts. I have pics. For those who don't know, I'm the one one with the hat. I cannot stand being in the sun without a hat on.

This is me and my coworkers, Sabrina, Jean, Louise, and Christine. For some reason, none of the men in the office opted to join. Clearly they suck. :P

Me and Sabrina. Incidentally, she's the one who made me join. It was like... peer pressure for a good cause:

This is a random lighthouse at one end of the path. Once you got to it you had to turn around and go back.

P.S. My dragon is having an awesome, awesome week. *hugs her*

Question:

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:59:35 GMT

So who unilaterally decided that Canadians don't need MP3 players with a hard drive of more than 8GB? Were they thinking "Them Canadians are too busy hunting seal and polar bears and keeping warm in them there igloos to need more than 8GB." ?

I cannot find a player available in-store or on a website that has anything other than 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB. Yet the US versions of the same websites have 32GB models. I am finding it difficult to express how much this pisses me off.

And no, I don't want an iPod. I actually want something that a) doesn't require a wall charger when I travel, and b) includes a built-in FM radio and recorder. My old one was a Sandisk. I would order from the US but Sandisks absolutely require an extended warranty as they can be very unreliable.

The worst part is... I know I saw a 16GB one on the website a few weeks ago when I check before, but it's gone now. Grrr.

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:27:31 GMT

So for reasons that defy explanation (actually because my cubicle mate asked me to) I will be participating in the SuperWalk to raise money for Parkinson's research.

You see, last week, Professor Hugh Lawford, the founder of the company I work for (the smaller company that was bought out by the bigger one actually) passed away from Parkinson's disease at age 75. In order to honour him, a team of people from my office will be doing the walk -- 2km or 7km; it's not been decided yet.

Alas, it's on a Saturday morning. We have to be there at 8:30 a.m. *groan* So yes, September 12th I will be getting up very early to spend half the day with coworker doing a good deeed.

If anyone would like to sponsor me, there's a link here.

If everyone else could just pray that it will be cool that day so I don't die of heat stroke that would also be greatly appreciated. ;P

One year later...

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 15:35:31 GMT

Okay so a year after my two readers finished reading the second draft of my original story I've not only finished a third draft but have also had my mom read the thing for errors and I've been reading up on manuscript formatting. I'm going to finish this. This year. Send it out somewhere and go on with my life.

Meanwhile, I've been doing a final once-over and I've started correcting all the typos. I'm so bored I feel like I could pass out.

I wonder if published authors get this bored when they try to polish their manuspcripts.

Yes, we do in fact have an army

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 01:07:56 GMT

I was watching some of season six of The West Wing. The show was never the same after Sorkin stopped writing it but I wanted to see the bits with Josh and Donna again. However, they had CJ randomly making a Canada joke and it really sort of bugged me:

CJ: Does Canada even have troops? What do they do? Throw those little bottles of maple syrup?

This makes me sad. Season six was aired in 2004, by which point Canadian troops had been in Afghanistan for nearly three years. Our troops are still there, by the way. We get regular reports when they get blown by by car bombs, which happens on a regular basis.

I can't believe John Wells (or whoever the writing staff was then) thought it was a great idea to add humour to a scene by having the White House press secretary be ignorant about us. It's a cheap joke meant to amuse the show's U.S. audience (who I guess didn't know we were getting blown up in Afghanistan). The irony is that throughout the show's history it had better ratings in Canada than in the U.S.

Writing Meme and such

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:31:41 GMT

Lately, I've been forgetting to log into Livejournal, which is really sort of sad. I just get caught up in other stuff and then suddenly it's ten p.m. and I have to get ready for bed... :/

Anyway, I don't really have news to speak of. I've been working and writing fanfic of late. But I thought I would do a meme since it looked amusing and I'm in the midst of some major procrastination. So here goes:

Post snippets of your Works in Progress on your journal. Gakked from sacae.

Distance (7,802 words)

The first time I saw the Silver Knight was in Castle Frelia. My unit, newly bloodied and heady with victory, had been assigned to escort Prince Innes as he returned from the front. Sir Seth, too, had returned from the front, from a foray into Grado territory led by Princess Eirika in hopes of finding her brother Prince Ephraim.

I did not know his name then, though I knew he was a knight of rank by the fine armour he wore. I could never forget how, though worn from fighting and dusty with travel, he reached out his hand to me when I stumbled. I, a common soldier and he a knight, but he caught my hand and asked me if I was well.

I will never forget the kindness and the earnestness of his expression as he asked. I managed to murmur a reply– I must have– but all I remember is the warmth of his eyes... and of his hand.

It was the only time I ever touched him.

Distance: I really do plan to finish this one. It takes places during the war and is basically a Seth/Eirika story told from the perspective of a Frelian soldier, who, as you can guess, is rather impressed with Seth herself. I wrote it earlier this, all but the last scene, which for some reason eludes me...

***

Falling (475 words)

Falling Leaves

"Princess Eirika, is something wrong?"

She turned to face Seth. In the dusky light his coppery hair seemed all aflame and the light rebounded off his armour like tiny suns. She smiled wanly. "No, Seth. It's nothing."

The breeze whipped his cloak around his shoulders– like a creature trying to free itself, she thought as she watched it darting to and fro. "My lady..."

"I was only thinking..." she said, turning, rubbing at the gooseflesh on her bare arms. "Autumn– late autumn– makes me melancholy. The leaves are so beautiful but a single gale tears them off the trees. One little gust... and everything is changed. I..." The wind picked up once again, stirring the coppery leaves into a whirlwind around them. "Ever since the war began–"

But then his arms wound around her and his warmth was all she needed.

Falling: Four drabbles based on the seasons. I wrote three of the four just as something to help me when I was feeling blocked with Distance. I might finish this, though drabbles have never been my thing.

***

Untitled (5,500)

Chapter One

"Love was in the air... or in the water, or in our food– we weren't sure yet. But I'm getting ahead of myself. To answer the question in your last letter, it began during the period of celebration before Lord Ephraim’s coronation..."

#

Joy had returned to Renais. After all the seasons of war and hardship, the countryside and the castle alike were awash once more with hope. As she stood on the castle ramparts and looked upon the springtime beauty of her homeland, the joy of it seared through Eirika’s veins.

"It’s beautiful, isn’t it?" she said as she heard someone approach and come to stand next to her on the walkway. She did not need to turn to know who it was; she had long since come to recognise Seth’s footfalls.

"Yes, my lady."

She turned to glance at him, one eyebrow raised. "We’re alone, you know."

"I– Yes... Eirika." He smiled– nervously– and she could not but smile in return for his sudden bashfulness and the way he looked like a boy almost when he smiled so uncertainly was enough to banish her doubts. "I was looking for you."

Untitled: I got the idea for this story from a prompts community called 30_proposals. Basic concept: all the men in Renais starting falling in love right, left, and centre, leading to much humour and confusion and to the 30 million possible pairings in the game. The filename for this one is "midsummer" as it's vaguely inspired by A Midsummer Night's Dream. I was writing this in early 2008 but the Seth/Eirika portions were sort of angsty and since I was feeling rather angsty at the time I just left off and wrote Moments instead as I needed the fluff to maintain my sanity.

***

Untitled one-shot (1,303 words)

"This isn’t quite how I imagined it."

"You imagined this?"

"Well yes," she said, colouring. "Though there was more silk and satin and less... hay," she added, pulling a stalk out of her hair.

"You deserve a proper marriage bed."

Untitled: The result of my having listed to the song "Not Enough" by the Philosopher Kings way too many times at work one day and jotting down text in a notebook. I'm sure you can imagine most it. ;)

***

Invincible (279 words)

As a child, she’d thought Seth invincible. The war had cured her of such illusions. But even so, Eirika’s faith in him was unwavering. He was the youngest general in history of Renais, and the finest knight to have served under her father.

[...]

"Is it really so bad as that, Seth?"

"Yes, I’m afraid so, Princess. At this rate we’ll run out of provisions long before we reach Renvall."

"And our funds are..."

"All but depleted, milady."

Eirika took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. She would not succumb to panic nor to the despair that crept into her thoughts in the quiet hours, after battles or long days on the road, when she lay in the darkness, staring at the roof of her tent. Ephraim was alive. She knew he was and she would find him no matter what it took.

"I can’t believe this happened so quickly," she said, shaking her head. The sounds of camp life were muted this evening. Everyone was tired from the morning’s battle in Serafew, and now that they were in Grado territory it seemed unlikely than anyone would sleep very soundly.

Seth, sitting cross-legged on the floor of her tent, bowed his head. "I am sorry, my lady."

"It’s not your fault. Nothing’s really gone according to plan, has it?

There had been so many unexpected delays: the attack on the village of Ide, the Bandits of Borgo, the revenants, and today’s battle when they had hoped to pass through Serafew unnoticed. And though she was grateful for the extra help they’d picked up along the way, their purses had grown light with all the extra mouths to feed.

Invincible: A one-shot idea that came into my mind the last time I played through TSS and died a lot in the coliseum, as per usual. I usually level up Seth there so I can use him later as a decoy by taking away his weapons (poor dear...). It occurred to me though that Eirika would probably be appalled by the coliseum and got me wondering why the thing was there in th first place. Concept: Due to lack of funds for the army, Seth has to fight in the coliseum. I'm not really a one-shot writer... They don't have enough content to keep my attention most of the time.

***

Artemis Fowl – Untitled current project (7,609 words and counting; it's looking to be on the long side)

[...]

The sound of footfalls on the stone floor was muted by the tapestries. He kept his attention on the woven scene before him until the footfalls fell silent and he sensed someone standing next to him. Smiling, he turned to look. He already knew who would be there.

A slim figure, no more than a meter in height dressed in khaki pants, a violently yellow shirt with a pokémon on it, and a Mets ball cap.

He reached down and tilted the brim of her cap up so he could see her face.
"That colour suits you."

"I feel like a canary."

"You know, Holly," he began, a slight quirk to his lips, "if you're going to go undercover, you might want to choose an outfit that's a bit more subtle."

She glowered up at him. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find human clothes that fit on short notice?"

I finish most of what I start but now and then projects just don't take off. I was surprised how many snippets I had lying around in my FE folder actually.

It's.... done?

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 18:32:07 GMT

So I did it. Apparently. I finished all the changes I planned to make to my third draft. I went over all the comments by both my readers and did my best to make the story better. I feel oddly at loose ends, though. Shouldn't I be ecstatic or something? Maybe it's the perfectionist in me. Maybe I'm just twitchy because I'm not in the middle of anything anymore, neither a game nor a story nor a project.

*frets*

I'll need to print out the thing and then have it read for typos and read it myself once more. I need to figure out how to format it and where to send it. And then I need to let it go.

Well... at least I finally finally got this done, though. That's something at least.

Even more editing

Sun, 31 May 2009 19:48:50 GMT

I've been working on my edit all day. I mean literally, since this morning. With occasional breaks of course, but basically all day. I'm stopping now.

I'm proud to say, though, that there are only four things left to do. Two are just places where I have to tweak earlier chapters to make everything fit just right. The other two are bigger: I need to see about paring down one chapter and writing a new one. That'll be something to do next weekend.

This is what's left, listed by chapter so I can strike it out when it's done:

~~Chapter Thirteen~~
~~Chapter Twenty~~
~~Chapter Twenty-Two~~
~~Chapter Twenty-Three~~

The other twenty-one chapters are revised and done with.

Edit

Sat, 30 May 2009 20:02:53 GMT

Chapters five and ten are done! I'm clear up to chapter twelve now. And suddenly I feel like I need a nap.

Edit. Yes. Unbelieveable

Sat, 30 May 2009 03:45:57 GMT

Something shocking happened today. I actually had the nerve to work on my rewrite. No one could be more shocked than I. I finished the scene I'd left hanging in chapter one. I'm now clear to move on to the bit in chapter five that needs to be cleaned up.

I have no idea how this happened. As recently as last Saturday I was still feeling overwhelmed at the thought of working on it. I'm not sure what tipped the scales. Last weekend I finished my second Artemis Fowl fic. I was tired much of this week as I went back to work. I had a couple of really interesting dreams. I listened to a random book that mentioned laziness, which may have spurred me to action somehow. I also told the folks on the site that I couldn't do news anymore. My chest clenches at the very site of a press release. Newswise I'm toast for a good long while.

Anyone interested in doing news for an RPG site? All you need is knowledge of and interest in RPGs. ;)

I'm still going to do stuff on the site, but after a steady year of news I need a break from it, even if the timing is awful. But it's truly a load off.

Anyway, I'm going to post edit updates like I did for the second draft since that seems to be encouraging and I need all the motivation I can get to finish this thing once and for all.

So: Chapter one done!
(Chapters 2-4 previously finished)

Fri, 22 May 2009 02:39:36 GMT

So I've been on vacation this week. Finally. Mostly I've been taking it easy and staying up late a lot, though today I went to the museum of nature to finally get a look at the revamped exhibits and tomorrow I'm going to brunch with a friend. It was strange to see the dinosaur exhibit; it's so different from the old one. I recognized most of the old pieces, though, and it was like seeing old friends. I practically lived in that exhibit as a child.

I've gotten lots of writing done. Upon finishing my first Artemis Fowl fic (which I began posting last week) I started writing a second one, mostly devoid of plot but somehow 9,200 at the end of the penultimate chapter. I so wish I knew someone who'd read the series so I could run it by them.

Oh and Pet Dragons seems to be eating my existence, but that's nothing new. ;)

You know you're a fan when...

Sun, 03 May 2009 05:47:03 GMT

It's 1:38 a.m. and I am totally incoherent right now, but very greatly amused.

There's an application I play on Facebook called "Pet Dragons." I play it with a bunch of other people and it's become like a fandom for me basically. We're playing the original game. Tonight the new game "Pet Dragons 2" was due to launch. A bunch of us North American players were staying up late to play it (name our new dragon, choose a cave location, ect.) and the European players got up early for it.

According to the status message from the devs, the server lasted five seconds before it crashed.

Epic.

Pet Dragons fans are so dedicated we killed the server. And now everyone is messaging about i frantically. It's awesome. I can hardly think straight for being up nearly three hours past bedtime, but it's so very funny I'm glad I didn't miss it.

If I know that she knows that he knows that she knows... no wait...

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 22:45:16 GMT

Note to self:

In future, avoid writing stories centred around intelligence and counterintelligence operations as they tend to lead to brain implosion due to having to answer questions like: Does Opal know that Artemis knows that she knows that she's been monitoring his communications? O_o

I may have rearrange scene order so that the story actually... you know... makes sense.

To write

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:05:13 GMT

Ah! I need four-day weekends like this more often. Amidst Easer activities I've been writing. Writing! And it's been going well! I'm so relieved. I'd been in such a rut. It's fanfic mind you. I had planned to work on my rewrite this weekend but instead I worked on an Artemis Fowl fanfic. *geek* But it's been so nice to be writing steadily. Last night I stayed up hours past bedtime to finish the chapter I was working on. I kept going till I ran out of plot. 2300 words. I can't remember the last time I wrote that much in one evening. Months. The story currently stands at just under 6000 words. I imagine it'll be just short of 10K when I finish.

I only wish I had the details of the later scenes worked out. I need to brainstorm. I so want to write more. I so love writing and I've so missed it...

Let's just quote A.M. Klein for good measure:

Then he will remember his travels over that body—
the torso verb, the beautiful face of the noun,
and all those shaped and warm auxiliaries!
A first love it was, the recognition of his own.
Dear limbs adverbial, complexion of adjective,
dimple and dip of conjugation!

3+3=crack?

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:22:05 GMT

Is there something about book six of a series that requires it to be cracky? I'm reading the 6th Artemis Fowl book today -- only a 120 pages in -- but once you get to chapter five or so it starts getting really cracky.

Best line so far:

"Get your pants on. Then we can discuss your theories."

EDIT: Book all done. I wish there were more. Or at least some more resolution what with so many things being up in the air at the end of book six but, most especially, with Artemis an Holly.

*wanders off to find solace on ffnet*

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 22:07:04 GMT

I think I'm due for a vacation. I haven't had one since September. I need to hold out until the end of May.

I should have posted during the week when I was all excited. Has anyone on my flist read the the Artemis Fowl books? I've been reading them and... I love them! They're great! I can't believe I didn't know this. On the up side it means there are six of them for me to read-- I'm currently in the middle of book five, though heaven knows I've got spoilers up the wazoo thanks to Wikipedia. There's even a ship I like, though it may be the wrong one, which is depressing, but you'd think I'd get over my need for canonicity...

Things have been otherwise uneventful. I been having troubling writing, which makes me feel... awful. So instead I've been writing reviews for RandomNPC. I posted on for Persona 4; a feature review for Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, and I've got a draft of one for PuzzleQuest Galactrix, which I do not recommend as it was a very sloppy piece of work: bad controls, some poor gameplay decisions, obnoxious loading times-- the works.

Oh and I found a rather cute piece of Seth/Eirika fanart that I feel must be shared with the universe:

AFK

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:52:00 GMT

Just a note to my flist... I haven't been on for a week or so. I've had some problems with eyestrain this week so I tried to reduce the amount of time I was spending online. So I'm really sorry for missing-- well basically, everything. I did a quick run through my flist to see if there was anything urgent... and sadly there was. :/ If there's anything else I should know, let me know.

And a belated meme from sacae

"Comment and I'll give you a letter; then you have to list 10 things you love that begin with that letter. Afterward, post this in your journal and give out some letters of your own."

1) Mom
2) Money
3) Music
4) MSN IM (my friends live in it ;D )
5) Mute Math (a Canadian rock band)
6) Milk cholcolate
7) Momiji (of Fruits Basket)
8) Maples
9) Much Ado About Nothing (My favourite Shakespearian comedy)
10) Macbeth (Possibly my favourite Shakespearian tragedy)

It's funny... I know I've done this quiz before and I think I got "M" for it that time too...

Saff at least will get a few of these...

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 03:43:16 GMT

First of all I would officially like to tell the record companies of Our Lady Peace, the Foo Fighters, Yellowcard, Stabilo, and Nickleback to kindly go to hell. I own the CDs and ripped them on my now defunct computer and now that I have a shiny new PC I'm not allowed to play the tracks thanks to their bloody software protection and will have to rip them again... assuming it lets me. Way to go, guys! Nice job. Screwing over fans who actually pay for your music is always a good move, especially for a small Canadian band like Stabilo.

Okay. Rant over. And now the music meme.

Step 1: Put your music player on shuffle.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 20 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing.
Step 3: Strike through the songs when someone guesses both artist and track correctly.
Step 4: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!
Step 5: If you like the game, post your own.
I used WMP, so it's a bigger collection than what I have on my poor little 4GB player.

1. Cuz it's a bitter sweet symphony this life
2. Buried way beneath the sheets I think she's having a meltdown
3. If this world is wearing thin and you're thinking of escape
4. The perfect words never crossed my mind cuz there was nothing in there but you
5. I'm so tired of being here... Suppressed by all my childish fears
6. I felt you in my legs before I ever met you
7. Are you lost in your lies?
8. We're both looking for something we've been afraid to find
9. You took your coat off and danced in the rain, you're always crazy like that
10. Dreaming comes so easily cuz it's all that I've known
11. Wanted single F, under 33 (No one is going to get this one...)
~~12. Silent night, holy night (Everyone is going to get this one lol )~~
~~13. Look at the stars, look how they shine for you~~
14. We waited in line till our name was called, we waited so long that our feet got cold
15. Oh thinking about our younger years...
16. Shut your eyes and think of somewhere
17. Many times I've walked alone and all the while I think I've always known
18. We all hit this fear when we lay our lives (ummm they don't actually have a record deal... Do I win for obscure?)
~~19. I'm looking at you through the glass, don't know how much time has passed~~
20. I've been roaming around always looking down at all I see

Hmm... I really should get some sort of music icon...

Strange visitor

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 18:10:50 GMT

There is, at this very moment, an owl perched in the crabapple tree outside. And I got PICS!

You have to understand that my neighbourhood is about 15-20 minutes out of downtown Ottawa so I'm always amazed at the creatures that show up around here. It seems to be a combination of the large number of old trees here and our proximity to the Gatineau Park. This is the first time I've seen an owl, though. Take a look!