Its so cold. I really can't feel my hands properly and my nose is really cold. Hope the heating's still on when I get back from fencing, I think I'll need it.

I remember watching Buffy series 6, the second half especially, and thinking the BBC will have to cut quite a bit. They definitely cut the zip-opening sound from Smashed. Tonight I kept waiting for Buffy to go outside with Spike, but she never did. Why don't they put the Friday night repeat on at a reasonable time?

Now I'm a member I have found loads of stuff at Henneth Annun, its great. Apart from all the really good fic there, I mean. Its also easier to find stuff that you will potentially like using the searches and looking at other people's recommendations if they like the same stuff as you. The people there all seem really nice and helpful too.

Been playing Bureaucracy. Its hard (and not just to spell either). The trouble is that unlike Hitch-hiker's (or the beginning at least) if you go wrong you don't die. You just wonder around a lot not being able to do stuff. I had a look at the clues when I got stuck and found I'd gone wrong on the second move. I suppose while my download's not doing anything I should restart and see if I can convince my printer to print. And watch last weeks Angel.

I am going to take this opportunity to complain about Valentine's Day. Apart fom being totally pointless and far too sickly sweet, I have major problem with it. You can't find any birthday cards. Go into any shop that sells cards and they'll be full of Valentine's Day cards. You're obviously not allowed to have a birthday at this time of year. Luckily I bought the ones I needed to a few weeks ago. Okay so thats pretty much it for the rant really.

The other thing annoying me at the moment (one of may things admittedly) is books. Which includes just about anything readable in whatever format. If its good you want to keep reading it to find out whats going to happen next. The best thing about reading something for a long(ish) period of time is that you can lose yourself in that universe and you remember more of it. The trouble is that you don't want to read it too fast because then it will be over. And then what do you do? Nothing else seems quite so good after that. Although if its long and complicated enough the answer is to re-read it. Or go and read something you know is good (because you've read it before). Then you can go onto something new. The best thing, of course, is to find something else good and new. Sadly, I can't afford that many books. Or time to read them.

I thought of all these things to write in here this afternoon, as I didn't have much work on and now I don't remember any of them. I think last night's Alias (in America) was big. I don't know why, I don't even remember the episode name and I don't want to know whats going on till I see it. Preferably soon! Fight scenes on Buffy are very weird when the picture is 8 seconds behind the sound. And Angel was gone for so long I'm trying to remember whats going on. I don't think its as good as Buffy, but then I have just seen the 12th of Buffy and the 8th of Angel, so perhaps I shouldn't judge.

Would anyone like to explain tonight's Farscape? I knew it wasn't Aeryn, given the amount of shapeshifting they'd been showing us, but does that meant there's more than one Grayza? Was the one we saw the real one? My video ran out half way through so I can't re-watch it either. Should have put a new one in. Never mind. 6 episodes to go. Ever. Thats quite a scary thought. Specially as we still don't know whats going on this series!

I changed my alarm clock to match the other ones - I got tired of looking at it and having to subtract 2 minutes to find out the time. Strangely, the fact that my clock never says the right time doesn't bother me. Anyway, despite the fact that I'm sure I only changed the minutes, I thought it was midnight when I went to bed (which was annoying as I wanted to go to bed early) and noticed that my clock said eleven. As did my video when I checked. Good thing I did, otherwise I'd have got up at quarter to 7 and probably not noticed. Then I couldn't get to sleep, despite being completely knackered on the way home, so gave up at midnight and read a bit.

Won a fight at the county competition yesterday! I think the other person got 7 or 9, I can't remember. And I lunged. And slid as well, but hit her. So I'm not quite so bothered about my right leg hurting today. I think I've got my chest bruised as well. I think it must be just above my chest protector. Really wish the free version of Blogger had a spell checker cos I'm too tired to check this.

I don't think I'm going to be updating my site till next month at the earliest - I'm so booked up there's non time! I really mean to do stuff with it this time, honest guv. Really tired this week due to lack of sleep. I'm now halfway through the FOTR writers commentary which is the most interesting one so far. They talk about what they changed from the book, what they kept the same and which bits they restored for the DVD and why. I've been trying to work out how to get it to give me other languages and subtitles and stuff, although I have only tried the one DVD, so that could have something to do with it.

I was in the queue in the newsagents at lunch and a woman carrying a couple of books joined it behind me (why on earth would you buy books there? they're so expensive). I say behind me, it was more to the side really. While the slightly incompetent woman was looking for my magazine I noticed out of the corner of my eye she was looking at the cigarette display behind the counter and shaking, like drug addicts who need a fix do on The Bill.

I thought it was just my imagination, but as I turned to go I discovered that she smelt of cigarette smoke. And when I say smelt, I mean worse than anyone else I've smelt it on. And that's saying something. It was almost as if someone had lit one and blew the smoke into my face it was that powerful. I didn't stay long enough to find out if she bought any. But I'd say its a fairly safe bet to assume she did.

Have put paragraphs in this time

My dream last night had Gandalf in it. Which isn't really unusual given that I'm working my way through the DVD and the book. I'm not sure I ever read the prologue (concerning hobbits) before, so that was really interesting stuff. What was unusual was that the Gandalf in my dream was the Bagenders version. Legolas was mentioned, something to do with singing, although I never got to see any of it. Which was probably just as well really.

Farscape on Monday was really good. I felt guilty for suspecting D'Argo partway through, but the stuff with him in it was quite gripping. The mental guy I could have done without and I can't work out what Scorpy's game is at all. The BBC Cult site on the other hand, hated it. Which is the exact opposite to Stargate.

I taped The Bill last night to watch Stargate as it sounded quite good from the description in the TVQuick. Sadly, it was another clip show and by the time I realised I had missed too much of The Bill to watch that instead. It was worse than the other clip show, Politics, which at least had the redeeming feature of
a) having the cast in it and
b) it was hard to disagree with Kinsey's conclusions.
This time though, we all knew he was up to something in advance, they shouldn't have bothered trying to pick a few countries (everyone can find at least one to object to not being there). Thor was good, but a tad ridiculous. And there were people on the UK-SG1 list who liked it. Were they watching the same episode as me? Watching it live wasted an hour as well, as opposed to 40 minutes if I'd just downloaded it in the first place. (I'd have got further through the writers commentary as well)

According to my watch today is Wednesday 21st January 2003. Which is a very interesting date. The other odd think is the way flu seems to be done in fic. I've read a few where the people with it are practically at deaths door for two weeks. Even when I've had it really badly the worst of it only lasts for 5 days, and out of that I think I've only really managed to actually sleep for most of 2 of them. Most of the time I just carry on as usual, just going to bed earlier. But people in these stories take loads of medicines, have their sheets and clothes changed, sleep all the time, don't eat or drink (it may be just me but I can always at the very least manage a couple of pieces of toast a day). And other people worry about whether they're going to get better. Okay in young or old people then maybe it is like that. I'm so tempted to write a sick fic just to prove its really not that bad. And you'd certainly never go to the doctor with flu (too much effort) and anyway, they'd just say keep taking the pills. So I just keep taking the pills.

The picture of Frodo on my previous post is really putting me off now.

Frodo's my fancy!
What's your fancy? Click here and tell the world!

That would make more sense if you read the Very Secret Diaries which continue here.

A new LOTR rec - Legacy by Anglachel. Its about how Frodo comes to live with Bilbo. Its almost horrifying in places (I don't see any of the slash in LOTR) but it is quite sweet, and sad in places.

I got up in time to watch Quantum Leap on UKGold this morning and it was the only season 1 episode I haven't seen. It wasn't that good, but its always nice to be reminded how good the series was as a whole. If they did any more - TV movie or whatever - they couldn't do it without Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell though. I'm sure they can fit it in round Enterprise.

I considered watching Stargate on Sky One on Wednesday, but then it occurred to me that it would have adverts in it in annoying places and it clashes with The Bill. So I think I'll download it.

I have now watched every documentary on the Lord of the Rings DVDs. And I worked out how to get to the Two Towers trailer. I found a really funny set of fics yesterday - Bagenders. Its a cross between LOTR, The Young Ones and Father Ted. Its one of the few stories that have made me laugh out loud, the others being The Sith Academy (where Darth Maul is given menial rage-honing tasks to do by his master, Darth Sidious) and Daniel Jackson's Diary (similar to Bridget Jones's Diary).

I wasn't that impressed with Farscape last night. The story's been done before (Polymorph springs to mind for a start) and the ending seemed a bit contrived. The writers probably had it mind the whole time, but it doesn't explain why he doesn't tell her earlier. And Scorpius gobs in his eye. Ugh. He gets more gross with each episode.

Now this Lord of the Rings 'rumour' is funny. There's a site out there called What Tolkien Officially Said About Elf Sex. Its almost worrying really. And lastly a nice Hobbit-theme piece of fanfic called The Care and Feeding of Hobbits.

I took a while, but I realised why I keep thinking The Two Towers should be shortened to TT, and not TTT. Its because there's no T at the start of FOTR or LOTR is there? Can we at last be consistent here?

The annoying thing about watching the FOTR DVD is it keeps making me want to read the book again. I'm nearly up to the Frodo and Sam bits of TT and thats only because I spent three and a half hours on a train (techincally there were two trains involved) reading it. I seem to remember the first time I read it (I'm on my second reading now) that I pretty much skipped the non-Sam and Frodo bits because they were boring. And I only had a week to read the second and third books (the first had taken me three weeks on its on, and I still skipped all the descriptive bits). Although I am liking any bits with Merry and Pippin in, and Aragorn and Gandalf are getting quite interesting too.

I've actually written a post on The Bill Forum about The Bill. Wow, how long has it been?

Silly Lord of the Rings quiz:

You, Legolas, alone in one room. What do you do?
Ask him how he braids his hair and if he can do mine like that. Its been bugging me ever since I saw FOTR.

You, Arwen, alone in one room. What do you do?
Ask her about she and Aragorn met. Because I still haven't got round to reading the appendices.

We sadly lost 3 when he fell into....ummm...ok, we just lost him.
How hard did you look? Can we get him back?

What gift would you ask of the Elves?
Er, a nice sword maybe.

What race would you most like to be?
A hobbit. A tall hobbit!

Honestly...would you keep it secret, and safe?
Er, yes.

If you would keep it secret and safe, would you be the Ring-bearer, or would you swear to protect the Ring-bearer?
Protect the Ring-bearer. I don't want the responsibility of being the Ring-bearer.

Ok, you are the Ring-bearer, who makes up the Fellowship with you (of your friends) and if they're enough like a character, say who they'd be:
Can I have them all?

Ok, you're not the Ring-bearer (but you are in the Fellowship like above), who of your friends would be the Ring-bearer?
Perhaps Annie as she'd be able to get a much bigger Fellowship to follow her (see grope in Blackpool for good example ).

Are you evil? Evil enough to become a tool of Sauron?
I don't think so. However I may be bribeable.

If you had to be one of the nasty/evil creatures (i.e. the Balrog, the Cave Troll, an orc, Ring Wraith, etc) what one would you be, and why?
Can I be Sauron?

If you didn't know the Ring was The One Ring, but you knew it made you disappear and such, what would you do with it?
Lose it I expect. Hang on, thats what I do with ordinary rings.

Pippin and Merry - are they really okay guys, or just big nuisances?
They are so cool.

Who kicks the most ass: Gandalf, Legolas, Strider, or Gimli?
Strider. He's human (okay, a Man) but still does all the cool stuff you wouldn't think anyone in the race would be capable of.

Would you rather be an Archer, Wizard, or Ranger?
A wizard. That would be cool. Plus I could do what I like, because frankly, how would anyone stop me?

Who's your favourite character?
Frodo. He's not that old in hobbit terms but he has to do all this stuff to save the world.

Apparently, question seventeen was killed needlessly at Helm's Deep.
Aah. Poor seventeen.

If, for some odd reason, Aragorn and Legolas were to get in a fight, who do you think would win (and why)?
Aragorn - I think he'd be more likely to strike the first blow and Legolas wouldn't get a chance to defend himself.

Do you think the race of men is weak?
Not especially, no.

Does it make you sad to know the Elves are leaving these shores?
Yes, definitely.

React to this: Frodo lives!
Now I'm not quite so sure I remember the ending correctly...

If you've read the book and seen the movie, did you like both, or do you think one was better than the other?
The movie. It doesn't have all that description I try to read but invariably fail to. Although the book does have some extra stuff that explains more of whats going on.

Do you think the movie was an insult to Tolkien's genius?
No.

Any problem with the cast?
I keep thinking Elijah Wood is so young yet he's a year older than my sister. I must be getting old. And Viggo Mortensen doesn't look nearly as good as Aragorn does.

Honestly...do you think Liv Tyler did a good job as Arwen, or are you glad she's in the movie just because she's hot?
No, she was okay. But then she didn't exactly have a big part.

What do you think of the choice to cut Tom Bombadil?
Well they have to cut something and given they still couldn't fit him into the 3.5 hour version it might as well be him as anything else.

Was the Balrog all you had hoped for?
Well given I don't read the description and the bits I do I forget, I didn't really have any hopes for it.

Any other changes from the book to the movie that irritate you?
Not really.

How about that special-edition DVD, pretty cool, or no?
Very cool. Bloody hard to find anything on it, but that could just be me.

Lastly, what was your favourite bit of the movie?
FOTR: At the beginning with all the happy Hobbits before it all starts.
TTT: Helm's Deep. Wow. When I read how long it lasted for I thought it would get boring but it didn't.

Further Farscape thought - if it is 2003 in last week's ep and Christmas in this, is it set now(ish) or a year in the future?

Watched Wife Swap - the idea is that the wife in two families live in the other's house with their husband and kids. They live by the household rules for the first week and set their own for the second. It was so funny. I still find it quite odd when the bloke does stuff like cooking and cleaning cos Dad's completely useless. How he survived till he met mum I don't know. But having seen it I can quite easily say that if I ever decided to live with a bloke he would so be doing half the work. I thought I was into cleanliness but one of those sets of people were really OTT about it. Although I'm don't do nearly as much as my mum, I wouldn't clean every week for a start. Although my room does seem to last a few weeks of me looking at it and thinking about cleaning it. In my defence I'm not in much and I really can't clean any time except first thing.

I have established that I can't find DVD Easter eggs even when I have exact instructions. It just doesn't work! Its no use typing numbers in, they just refer to menu items. Aah! It's doing my head in. But I do like the zoom button. There are some quite interesting documentaries on the LOTR DVD, its just hard to find anything amongst all the stuff on there.

Quick Nemesis review - it was good. I think there were some other bits they could have done differently and, going by the length of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, it could have been longer. But it was an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours. And I noticed one of the ships they were headed towards (but never got to see) was the USS Archer. Ever since Virtual Voyager had a shuttle Mayweather (last week, admittedly) I remembered to look out for anything like that.

I added some fic recs, one for LOTR which is one of the few I've seen that isn't slash. She's also written some other stuff, all focusing on hobbits. The Elves one is very funny. Also strange, but thats the point. I'd add another journal, but unless you've seen Buffy season 7 so far (in America) it will totally spoil it. I can't even add the link without the address revealing so many things. So its not going in here until we're halfway through it on BBC2. Assuming this journal, and mine, still exists, that is.

Quick Farscape review - I thought we found out in Look at the Princess that Crichton has two sisters? I could have heard wrong though. It was very interesting, and sad at the end. Now we're back to the rest of the season after that 2 week break on Earth. And hah! to all the Americans out there.

Star Trek was good. Even though I was eating during the first scene. Put me off my food till the middle of the next when I managed to forget about it. Loads of flooding, trains probably horrible, haven't looked that closely yet (or gone in that direction really). Got the wrong type of lightbulb for my rabbit lamp so now need to go to Tescos - will have to wait till the flooding goes, although will carry them around in case I see one. Still tired. Going to bed (cold) to play with my DVD player (yay!). Maybe something more coherent when I've recovered (middle of next week then).

My Hobbit Name is Ruby Gamwich of the Bree Gamwiches.
My Elvish Name is Nessa T�ral�m.

Cool eh?

Going to see Star Trek Nemesis tomorrow - on opening night!

Fic writers quiz:

In which fandoms do you write?
The only ones I've so far written and completed are Bugs, Star Wars and Quantum Leap. There's also Stargate, Farscape and Enterprise I've started writing in.

What genres do you write?
Mainly angst to be honest. I have written some plain drama, but I find it much harder to do.

Which do you most enjoy writing?
Angst if I'm feeling masochistic! Its quite depressing to write so I can only do a bit at a time (I know, excuses, excuses)

If you write het/slash pairings, why those pairings?
I've dabbled in Sam/Jack, Trip/T'Pol and Obi/Qui. The first two because I think the characters really do feel that way about each other. The last pairing, I do think they love each other but not in that way. It just can be interpreted that way and seems to work quite well for some reason.

Is there any genre or category you haven't yet written that you'd love to write?
Comedy. Sadly, I'm not very good at it.

Is there a style you attempt to emulate in your writing?
Um, not especially.

What's the best story you've written? Why?
I would say Confessions as its the most recent. Looking back at it, I'm not so sure about the plot (such as it is), but I do think the characterisation was quite good (IMO, of course).

What's your favourite story out of those you've written? Why?
Life, Love and Consequences because its the longest I've written so far and was very intense to write (I'd manage about 15mins then stop to cry). Hence the reason it gets happier in the middle. Plus I went with the opposite of everyone's expectations.

Which story of yours are you most disappointed in?
Looking back I'd say A Rainbow in the Dark because I wrote it before I'd revised the rest of Star Wars canon and because I'd created the wonderful character in Neena who could have been so much more - she was very underused. It would have been better with the original premise, had my strange ideas at the time not taken it in a different direction.

And the fic readers quiz:

In which fandoms do you usually read fic?
Stargate, Enterprise, Farscape, Alias, Angel. I've dabbled in Buffy, Quantum Leap and Voyager a little as well, but not to the same extent as the others.

Which genres do you read?
Humour and angst mainly.

Do you have a favourite author/set of authors? Who and in which fandom?
Angel - Jennifer-Oksana, which is quite strange really as I don't do Angel slash, she just writes it so well
Stargate - Noda because I love her Sam/Jack UST and Alli Snow for the same reason.
Those are the ones who I've read pretty much everything they've written anyway. There are others, but we'll be here all day if I go and hunt them out.

Do you have a pairing preference and if so, what do you like to see in that writing?
Practically the only Alias I've read has been Sydney/Vaughn, same with Enterprise and Trip/T'Pol. Stargate I've read Sam/Jack and also Daniel/Janet, not because I think there's much evidence of it, more because I think it could work quite well.

Is there any genre or category you haven't yet read that you'd love to try someday?
For some reason I keep thinking slash looks quite fun, I just haven't come across any yet that I can see working apart from Obi/Qui.

What's the best story you've read? Why?
What's your favourite story? Why?
See my fic recs page and the ones down the side of this blog.

And while I'm here, Celli's year in fic meme:

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
I think I would say less, on the basis that I didn't really finish anything. Or at least I didn't get anything beta'd and published somewhere.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2002?
I've started bits of Enterprise Trip/T'Pol.

What's your favourite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest.
There's an AU one for an epsiode of Stargate called The Sentinel. Its written from Teal'c point of view, which I really enjoyed doing. I discovered I liked the character a lot more than I thought while I was researching it.

Did you take any writing risks this year? (See above for unexpected pairings, etc.) What did you learn from them?
The Teal'c thing I think. The reason the fic is written that way came from playing around with points of view and looking at which I could do. So I learnt thats a good idea!

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?
Er, finish something! There's a few I've found that aren't as bad as I thought and I might be able to use some of. I should get them sorted and beta'd. I really want to finish the ones I've started and start the ones in my head.