Big Ginormous Birthday Happies to
teragramm
You deserve a wonderful birthday tomorrow and I hope it is exceptional!

I promise I haven't forgotten you, just a little swamped with Shakespeare at the moment!

The rosette is writing fanfic and posting it on ff.net. A friend of hers got her hooked on it, and now she really, really, loves doing it. The fact that she's old enough to write and post fanfic makes me feel old for some reason. Weathered. The fact that it is in some obscure fandom I've never heard of only adds to the feeling.

I also have to say that so far, the reviewers seem to be much nicer in her fandom than they would be in my fandoms! That isn't to say it sucks. She has good story ideas apparently. The problem is that my lovely daughter is very dyslexic. I don't mean in the sense that she's bad at language arts, I mean she actually has dyslexia. As a consequence, she has great difficulty with the whole mechanics part of the English language. Her brain and ideas are just as elaborate and creative as anyone else's, and she is just as capable of creating a wonderful story. (Believe me, she is *more* than capable of coming up with a creative and elaborate tale!) Getting it down in an officially recognized correct form and format is a whole other story. (No pun intended.) I'm worried that eventually someone is going to be truly harsh and she'll give up on writing. I know she needs a beta, and I'm going to see what I can dig up in her fandom for her because, 1) I truly *don't* want to know what my teen age daughter is writing fanfic wise, 2) I have not got the faintest clue about her fandom, and 3) I don't know that she would see my advice as anything other than silly motherly stuff.

I really never thought she would enjoy reading and writing because she has to work so much harder at it, but she does. That makes my heart sing! I just don't want people to crush her because she really is not able yet to grasp or utilize the mechanics in the way a non-dyslexic person does. I have to say, it gives me some new insight into some of those stories we have all read in our own fandoms. You know, the ones where you thought, "man, this could be a great story, but this person really needs to learn some grammar and spelling." We often think of commonly confused words, poor grammar, and bad spelling as signs of laziness, being very young, or needing more education. We equate intelligence with literary fluency, and lack of literary fluency as being less that intelligent.

How many of those stories with scathing "learn some @#(&*#$ punctuation and grammar!" reviews actually belong to a very intelligent person who has a brain that simply works differently than ours? Most are young, yes. Likely striking out for the first time, doing something they have a new passion to pursue. I know my friends would be kinder and gentler than that, but in our minds we may consider our own superiority to someone who wrote one of those stories. Perhaps that terribly punctuated story belongs to a young woman with a very sharp mind that has yet to develop the network and backup we have, or the ability to suss out the mechanics of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Goodness knows it may not be for lack of trying!

I'm not asking to excuse everything by any means, just consider that automatic assumption we make when we run across one of those fanfics.

Sharing my feeling is good....: pensive

Good gravy... I just don't have the words. Yes, baby!fic is my weakness. I like good baby!fic (yes, there is such a thing) I like bad baby!fic. (which I have written) I like meh baby!fic. (of which there is plenty. I like really really bad baby!fic. (because it's hysterical!)

Having said all that, I can't recall the last time I read any baby!fic honestly. I haven't read much fic lately unless it was part of reviewing a case as a mod over at stop_plagiarism. I also don't read much in the way of Buffy fanfiction that doesn't involve Spike in some way, shape, or form. (Heck, it doesn't even have to have Buffy...mmmmm, Sponner...)

So imagine my confusion when I woke up this morning after having a lovely little Buffy/Riley baby!fic dream! It was a serious WTF moment for me.

Don't get me wrong, I think Riley seriously got the short end of the stick on the show. He was totally shafted all around and, particularly on rewatch, I felt really bad for the guy. But I've never read B/R fic, much less baby!fic. This was bad B/R baby!fic too! It was Buffy/Riley, amnesia!baby!fic. o_O

So now you know where my bad!fic comes from.....the strange regions of my brain that literally dream up bad fanfic.

(note to self...consider throwing out the green chili chicken posole after three nights of eating it. Mmmm....posole.)

Sharing my feeling is good....: weird

Usually I'm kicking everyone's tail, but I suppose oversleeping and lack of coffee today has taken their toll. I'm just no good without my coffee! (Which I guess perhaps explains some of the use of illicit substances by Rock Bands. Perhaps they are all self-medicating ADHD sufferers?)

Holiday Cards!

If

I've been rewatching Supernatural seasons 1 and 2 and I have to say that I'm fairly impressed with how well they used season 2 to not only wrap up the main arc from season 1, but also set up the bigger overall arc that concluded with the season 5 finale. I mean, tiny little tid bits hear and there that are references to the big picture. Seemingly curious but insignificant moments that turned out to be HUGE hints at later things. Here I was thinking they were mostly flying by the seat of their pants!

And, I have to say that I think the show really was (and remains) fundamentally different after season 2.

One last thing- I really, really, really love Misha Collins. Like, really.

Sharing my feeling is good....: impressed

I need to put together a memorial service for my best friend's baby that was stillborn. What do I do? There are no pictures of happy childhood. Not even happy birth or baby pictures. No videos. No cute things he said or facial expressions. There's nothing but a big emptiness.

And what's worse, I have another child's funeral to attend this week. A tragic accident that very sadly illustrated why a house with small children should never have an unlocked gun.

Sharing my feeling is good....: indescribable

So, my son decided to try his hand at driving a golf cart. If anyone doubts that three year old's are supernaturally quick, come meet my son. He managed the 6 feet from the car to the golf cart in Olympic record speed. Supperdaddy swooped in just in time, and took him for a quick spin. Liam laughed his butt off the whole time. I foresee lots of rollercoasters in his future. BTW- never leave your keys in your golf cart!

Sharing my feeling is good....: impressed

Holy Saint Francis! I just (finally) woke myself up from a nightmare about bein unable to wake up from a nightmare. It was some truly, seriously, freaky $#!&.

Note to self- do not mix glucosamine , chondroitin, and hyaleuronic acid with sleep medicine! Now the question becomes how same is minimum time between because jumping jimmeny that was freaky!

And this girl, is very proud of her mostly immune status to freakiness.

Sharing my feeling is good....: uncomfortable

Tonight, Rosebud graduates! It's been a long and interesting road. And expensive. Graduation is dang expensive. They have fees just for the sake of having fees. The fees have fees! (Not to be confused with fleas.) And then there are the announcements, the pictures, the party, and the girli-fying, college application fees, ugh. I'm very glad I have another 5 years before the next one, I'll need to save up for it! Do you suppose Bank of America will take "high school graduation" as a valid excuse for getting the house payment a little late this month? Alas, I miss the days when you got your diploma, went home, and slept so you could get up early the next day and go find a job. When did all this partying and reception stuff come into style? All of this to announce that yes, I did manage to keep my child alive and in school for 12 years. I think I should be the one getting the party! *g*

I'm simply not old enough to have a child graduating from high school.

Sharing my feeling is good....: excited

Feeling like such a fangirl right now. The Supernatural season finale so rocked!!!! Completely made of awesomeness. I really love this show. It was so worth the coitus interuptus season finale last season. (But just barely!) And it certainly [uts a spon on a few things in retrospect. Though it miight actually make me hate the fan convention episode even more.

It had a smidge of a Dogma feel to it. You know? I have to say, it was quite satisfying overall.

And once again, I must say, I love Castiel.

Sharing my feeling is good....: enthralled

I finally caught up on Supernatural. I was 5 episodes behind, and boy was I missing some good stuff!

( Spoilers Ahoy! )

Things that make you go hmmm....

It really reminds me why I fell in love with this show.

Sharing my feeling is good....: contemplative

Because I love these things, and you would too if you knew what you were missing, I'm putting the recipe on here. These are little dessert tamales that I first discovered as a child. The little lady who lived next door was from Mexico and would make these at Christmas and give them to the kids. They are so totally yummy and I could eat every last one of them by myself, but luckily everyone else likes them too and I don't have to worry about that. They disappear pretty quickly! (I've never seen grown men chow down like they do on these things! *g*)

Sweet Tamales
1 package (2 pounds) freshly prepared masa. (Check your locally hispanic grocery store for this. Sure I can make it, but if they make it fresh for me, why not! *g*)
1/4 cup cream cheese
2 TBSP ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cup sugar (I use the azucar from Mexico, but you can use regular white sugar)
1 cup brown sugar (I use dark brown sugar)
1/4 wafer of mexican baking chocolate - chopped (this is NOT your regular chocolate. It has sugar and cinnamon in it. I use Ibarra Chocolate)
2 cups raisins (soaked until plump and drained)
1 cup pecan pieces
30-40 corn husks- soaked overnight. (At least a couple of hours anyway)

Soak the husks in a big tub, or your kitchen sink. Put something on top of them to keep them weighted down and under the water. (What I did is put the, in the sink, then put a big bowl on top and put the raisins in there with enough water to weight the husks down, and soak the husks and raisins overnight.)

In a very large mixing bowl, place your masa. Add the ingredients one at a time and mix thoroughly until it is all combined and fairly uniform. Get your hands in there to do this, you'll tear up your mixer and never get it even!. (You did wash your hands before you started all of this, right?) It will be the consistency of mashed potatoes.

Once you've sorted your husks to make sure they are somewhat close to the same size, and not full of holes, or very moldy, and free of silk, place one in your hand with the pointy side away from you. Put about 1/4 cup of the dough into the center of the bottom half of the husk. Gently roll between your palms until you've got a log about the daimeter of a nickel and about 4 inches long. Roll the husk around the dough, and fold the pointy flap over, and place in your tamale steamer. Steam them for about an hour until the dough doesn't stick to the husk when you unwrap it. (let it sit a few minutes before you try to unwrap!) I have steamed some batches as long as two hours, so there is no hard and fast number of minutes.

It sounds a lot more complicated than it is. In actuality, my 13 year old can (and has) made these. There is no need to worry about filling, or even rolling them "just right". It's just dough wrapped in a husk. Having said that, you can add coconut and pinapple to the mix instead of raisins. I've also seen some snazzy recipes online that involve berries as a filling, or liquer in the dough, or pine nuts, etc., etc., etc. They are essentially like little steamed muffins, with endless possibilities, but I like the plain old simple version myself. So give it a shot and find out what you're missing!

Sharing my feeling is good....: tired

Did that grab your attention? Good. Some of you may remember me posting a while back about a group here that is giving Christians a bad name. They aren't just your typical salt of the earth homophobes, they are and radical fundamentalist group that is targeting Churches, Theaters, and Breast Cancer survivors and awareness groups, in addition to the usual groups such as Islam, Hindu, Gays, Earth Based Religions, Strip Clubs, and Swingers, and Unitarians.

Their belief is that the Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, etc., have all become tainted churches.

They are associated with the radical group "Army of God" who believe and encourage the murder of abortion doctors.

So why am I posting here? Awareness. These people are giving my religion a very bad name. They are acting FAR from the teachings of Christ. They have taken and twisted a beautiful religion and turned it inso an extremist idea that is traveling the same paths as Islamic extremists such as the Taliban. People are afraid to leave their homes. Businesses are being shut down and not allowed to obtain permits so they can open. Not just the dubious businesses either. Their victims include a theater because they put on a valid production of Bent- an award winning show about Nazi treatment of homosexuals.

Texas is a perfect place to do this. Many town, such as mine, still run on the good old boy system. For the last year, people have tried through legal channels to get this group to function within the existing laws for legal protesting. However, local law enforcement are not acting. The group mocks legal efforts and tells their targets that as long as the police are friends with them, nothing will ever happen. One attourney has prrovided a 3 in stack of information on this groups activities and how they violate existing laws, but to date, both local and county authorities maintain the group has done nothing wrong.

They are also now actively trying to get a movement going to boycott Houston, Texas, because they recently elected a gay mayor.

So to shine a light on the darkness in these individual's minds and the things they are getting away with, things have gone national. I encourage you to check out the following reports on this groups activities, and act in whatever way you are called by your heart and mind.

The Observer - He Who Casts The First Stone
The Stranger - American Taliban isn't Hyperbole Anymore
Think Progress - Texas Taliban

Please take a stand. Let others know that this is not appropriate. Or encouraged. Or even following Christ's teachings. They are a hate group. No more, no less. One being allowed to spread and invade in whatever manner they choose under the guise of MY Christianity. My god is full of love. My Christ taught peace and acceptance. My Christ encourage people to think and love.

If you agree, please share these links with people you know. Go to the sites and show your support. Email. Call. It is up to us to show this group that their hate will not be tolerated!

Sharing my feeling is good....: determined

I do not recommend imbibing before watching music videos about homicidal (or is it suicidal?) bunny rabbits!

If you're currently wondering to yourself...WTF?, I would like to point you to the new Flogging Molly video Punch Drunk Grinning Soul which also has a PSA about PTSD. But the video is rather...different...

Seriously, homicidal bunny rabbit!

Anya had it right...as did Monty Python.

And it's possible I'm a wee bit tipsy.

Sharing my feeling is good....: indescribable

Happy Shove Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday, or Pancake Day, or Fastelavens, Shrovetide, Carnival, etc.! Eat hearty my friends, for tomorrow we....well, guess that depends on your religious choice, doesn't it?

Sharing my feeling is good....: excited

Sorry I haven't been around much lately. This week was busy, busy, busy! Friday, Saturday, and again tonight, I had performences of "The Vagina Monologues". Which, by the way, if you've never seen it, it is one AMAZING show. You can youTube it, but it isn't nearly as good as it is in person. It's all about ending violence against women by raising awareness.

Mr IR treated me to a mani-pedi yesterday for valentines. I now have some spiffy new nails, and the parrafin foot treatment? melts.... Oh god that was almost better than sex!

Rosebud had a scholarship deadline this friday, and so we were scrambling like mad to get that wrapped up and sent.

I miss Buffy & Angel. Going to have to break out some vids I think. Maybe dig up some fanfic. At the moment though, a nap sounds good.

I miss you all!

And on a final note...

Panic Switch by Silversun Pickups is so totally a song Joss would've had them play at the Bronze! *lol* (clickable link BTW)

Sharing my feeling is good....: busy

According to the federal government, we make too much money for the Rosebud to attend college.

Gotta love that whole two parent, middle class, family benefit. Great for the psyche, not so much for the pocketbook. We fall into the group that makes too much, but not enough for anything. We had absolutely no tax liability last year, and barely make ends meet. However, the only federal financial assistance available for our income range is Unsubsidized loans, and not a hell of a lot of that (5500) unless we send her out of state for some strange reason. Now, how we (or her) are supposed to pay the rest of the tuition AND loan payments is beyond me, but according to the federal government, it shouldn't be a problem.

What does this mean? It means that unless Rosebud (who is genious IQ, but only average student) can secure a whole bunch of scholarship money, there will be no college.

Yes, sure do love that they've made college available (not) to everyone who (is wealthy or gets government assistance) wants to go.

Sharing my feeling is good....: crappy

For the first time since the great ice storm in 98, the clinic will be closed two days in a row due to the weather. Most all the school districts in the area closed today too, so the kids got to stay home today and we've spent the day sipping cocoa and watch all three Pirates of the Carribbean movies. About one o'clock work sent out an email that we are closed tomorrow as well. Now, I've just got to wait and see if the schools will also be closed tomorrow.

Sharing my feeling is good....: content