Bit of shameless self-promotion: my contribution to Quantum Leap Virtual Season 9 is up - the printer friendly version is at http://quantumleap-alsplace.com/virtualseasons/season9/921p.html

More at the weekend.

I love the index in LOTR. I was reading various bits about Aragorn and his many names, and the one (fairly big one as well) that I hadn't seen was Thorongil. I looked it up at the back, find the page and there it was. Excellent. Its interesting that although he uses many names, he didn't pick any of them, they were all given to him by someone else.

Quite bored at the moment. Its really annoying that there are two episodes of Stargate on Sky tonight (although its annoying that there's one) because I'm not going to be able to download them till after Redemption, never mind watch them.

On the plus side, Yes Minister is on BBC7 tonight. And I've found a few fics to read tomorrow. I might do some ironing as well.

I really have nothing to write, my life is that boring. I now have a white thing (not going to even attempt to spell the Korean name) for Tae Kwon Do (where thing is trousers and jacket and belt). And I've washed it so its slightly less smelly. I've still not managed to post about The Bill on the forum. I've reached the point where I really have nothing to say. I've also reached the point I never thought I'd get to - I don't really mind if I miss it. When I tape it and don't get round to watching it things will be much worse. I did write a few bits about various people's fics at Henneth Annun though. Not terrifically constructive mind you. Wrote another fic that came to me in the night. Not good.

I've realised since seeing The Two Towers again that Aragorn's a really interesting character. And can I find fic about him as Estel? Well, a bit. Not much though. I saw a meme a while ago about first and last lines written in fic, so I did the 7 vaguely finished ones I could dredge up:

A Rainbow in the Dark (Star Wars TPM)
First - Obi-Wan Kenobi stood by the ship, waiting.
Last - Then, when he heard her voice in his head saying "Luke Skywalker", he knew what he must do and headed towards Tatooine.

A Child of the Jedi (Star Wars TPM)
First - Obi-Wan Kenobi didn't really feel like reading any of his lessons.
Last - I won't fail you, Master was the unspoken comment that passed between them.

Life, Love and Consequences (Star Wars TPM)
First - I'm not sure what I should be feeling any more.
Last - I just don't know whether I will succeed.

Confessions (Star Wars TPM)
First - "Anakin Skywalker progressing well, he is?"
Last - "Thank you, Master."

Trainspotting (the original) (Quantum Leap)
First - As Sam Beckett's senses returned after his leap in, the first thing that hit him was the smell.
Last - And he leaped.

Untitled (Stargate)
Frst - O'Neill screamed.
Last - I have never been able to decide.

Dropping Eaves (LOTR)
First - Samwise Gamgee slowly made his way around Bag End.
Last - Sam turned around to show his father, but of Gandalf there was no sign.

From that I can conclude that the first two are shite (I keep them around to remind me how much I've improved). There are different styles for different fandoms though, which is a good thing. I've written more based on TPM than anything else. Perhaps when I've finished the FOTR DVD I ought to go through the TPM one to get me back into it. AOTC never managed it, but then pretty much the only thing I'm interested in is Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon. Two of them are first-person. I can tell Life is angsty from those two sentences! Only Confessions starts with a person talking and also ends that way to. That fic is pretty much purely a conversation though. When Farscape's finished I should watch some older stuff and try and do some of the epic. And the older post-DMD one too. Will have to watch some Zhaan stuff for that I think.

From MaggieFic's Handy-Dandy Mary Sue Generator:

My Mary Sue Name: Angelique Foxworth
Eye colour: Gold-flecked Emerald
Hair colour: Sun-kissed Chestnut
Signature Scent: Antique Sandalwood
Paranormal Power: Time Travel
Specialised Skill: Master Diplomat
Distinguishing Mark: Navel Ring
Newly-Revealed Relationship to a Major Character: Cordelia Chase's Long-lost Twin

Which is all quite sensible in comparison to what you can get if you press the buttons often enough.

I've been reading The Official Fanfiction University of Middle-Earth which I thought would be crap, but its actually very funny.

I had a really bizarre dream last night that was a cross between Buffy, Lord of the Rings and Star Trek. Giles had turned into Gandalf and was leading the SITs from danger. In a possibly unconnected incident the entire Voyager crew died on a planet they'd decided to settle on. It turned out there was a deadly disease on it (which was why it was abandoned) and they couldn't get off again. Then my rational mind intruded and pointed out that they'd been alive in later episodes. Luckily the dream switched back to the Buffy/LOTR bit before I could work that one out. There was definitely a point at which me and Dawn (how we got there I don't know) were pealing potatoes that when peeled looked suspiciously like mixed vegetables. There were lifts involved earlier on, which were a bit scary. Or possibly they were stairs. But I slept for 11 hours which is good given that I forgot to turn my alarm off and woke up at 10 to 8 on Saturday morning. It was very cold and I couldn't get back to sleep again afterwards.

I went to see Daredevil yesterday. It was quite funny seeing an trailer for it today as they were saying how it was the movie event of the year (they all are, mind you) and the cinema wasn't exactly packed. The other advert that makes me laugh at the moment is the Vodafone one with a load of boys playing with their mobiles. At the end it says "How are you" and I keep thinking it says "How old are you".

I've finished my little LOTR fic. At last. Haven't put it up anywhere readable though. Cleaned out my hard drive by putting all the crap on a CD. My virus checker has gone from taking 2 and a half hours to 1 and a quarter.

Just noticed I created a new mini-Balrog by accidentally missing the r off Haldir's name. Whoops!

(I love the way you can see all possible results without having to go through the quiz picking consistent answers)

There was an accident about 5pm today, someone ran into the back of someone else from work (not sure what he was doing in his car at the time). The other car had gone over and there was glass all over the road so the police had closed it (so chaos for traffic, good for crossing the main road though). What really annoyed me though, was that at 5.30 when I walked past on my way home from work there were a load of people just stood around watching. There wasn't anyone involved in the accident around by that time, but it really annoyed me. People can be so insensitive and cruel. Its not nice when you've just been in an accident and you're standing around by the side of the road to have people staring at you.

A very funny site - Random Slash Pairing Generator at the Library of Moria. Isildur/Haldir? lol

Too tired to do anything except read a bit and watch TV. Buffy was only 33 minutes long, can't remember what was cut but noticed it in two places and know a third place. Good thing I have it uncut as well. But because I was taping it I couldn't watch The Bill from Wednesday before tonights.

And why is it publish always seems to be down?

Getting all excited about going to see The Two Towers again tomorrow night. I've forgotten most of the stuff that went on - apart from the bits in the book, which given that I've just read it, I do remember. Have almost killed Gandalf off in the pre/post-production commentary, just got the design commentary to go and I'll have watched everything on the 4 disks. I'll have to finish off my other DVDs after that. I still don't really know whats on the Alias one!

Had a really weird dream last night. Well, weird as in not very weird, given that mine are usually too weird to describe. It either started off as LOTR, or it could have just been me thinking about it. Then it went into Alias and I was Sydney Bristow. There was some sort of plot going on (shock! horror!) but I don't remember what it was. It was something to do with my friend though (not Francie). Then I met up with Vaughn and for some reason I decided that the right thing to do in this situation was to hug him, but he kissed me instead (only short though, my fantasies are really quite crap aren't they?) and I ran my left hand down his right arm. This is the one thing I remember clearly. Yes, I am weird. After that we were sat on a comfy sofa and I didn't want to tell him about what was going on with my friend, but I did tell him with my head pretty much in his chest (not literally, I'm not that weird). There might have been more plot-related stuff going on after that, I don't remember.

But Aragorn will yet again be opening the doors to Helm's Deep tomorrow and I will have forgotten Vaughn by then. What is it about that scene? I thought it was just me, but Emma said she noticed him at that point too. He was really scruffy and mucky after all the stuff he'd been through and that's the point where he looks most sexy. I really can't explain that one. The other point is the fight against the Nazgul on Weathertop with a sword in one hand and a torch in the other. He looked so cool doing that. Not that it looks choreographed or anything.

Will be good and write the minutes now and watch ST:TNG from earlier (which I've never seen!). Oh, and Farscape? Not sure exactly whats going on or what Katratzi means or where it is. But very good. I think John really has cracked up. Again.

Things I meant to do this weekend and did:

• buy food
  
• try on jeans (didn't find any that fitted though and Gap managed to not even have expensive ones in my size)
  
• update website (still loads of stuff I should do on it though)
  
• sort out links so they're not in frames (although just remembered some I missed, whoops! will wait for the next update to fix them though)
  
• download some stuff (then delete it and download it again, what fun)
  
• watch the stuff I've downloaded
  
• write some e-mails (and ring people, go me!)
  
• sort out my finances (well, did my statement)
  
• attempt to sort out my life (well, wrote one e-mail and thought of someone else to talk to)
  

Things I meant to do this weekend and have good excuses for not doing:

• read books (which ones was I thinking of reading?)
  
• order books (gave ISBN numbers to mum and she's going to order them nearer the time someone'll be in when they arrive)
  
• rent a video I've been meaning to see for ages (I did buy a DVD though and watched that)
  
• watch some Blakes 7 (didn't get round to it, might watch one later though)
  
• watch some FOTR (see above)
  
• surf a bit (well, did a bit but only for stuff to update my site with, might do some later though)
  
• make some CDs (due to accidentally deleting one of the files I wanted to put on there)
  
• write some fic (thought about some though)
  

There's one more thing on the done list than the to do list, which is something.

Why is it I keep getting tired about 10.30 though? I could have gone to bed at 10.30 last night, but refused on the grounds I'd had one lie-in and got another one today. So stayed up till 2am watching a DVD instead. Which was quite nice. I think its the only DVD I own where I've watched the film but not the extras - the others tend to be the other way round.

Off to do some of the stuff on my to do list.

How evil are you?

How wrong is that?

My cunning plan for the weekend is to:

• buy food
  
• try on jeans
  
• read books
  
• order books
  
• update website
  
• sort out links so they're not in frames
  
• rent a video I've been meaning to see for ages (there are a few possibilities for this one)
  
• watch some Blakes 7
  
• watch some FOTR
  
• download some stuff
  
• watch the stuff I've downloaded
  
• write some e-mails
  
• surf a bit
  
• make some CDs
  
• write some fic
  
• sort out my finances
  
• attempt to sort out my life.
  

It really has been a shit week. May next week be better (I really won't be able to cope if its worse. Worse would be really, really bad).

Just heard an advert on the radio for the thing you ring on your mobile to find out the title and artist of a song and they said it costs 9p more on Orange phones!

I found out today that Only Fools and Horses have conventions. I never knew that - I thought it was purely an sf/fantasy thing.

I had a couple of hours free this afternoon so I made a start on looking at IT courses. I know what I want to do, I'm not sure what there is that will teach me it, its all a bit confusing to be honest. I will have to think about it and work out what I think I want to know in words. I'm not sure 'general computery stuff' is very helpful. Of course because I had some time free that meant I had to stay an extra hour as someone needed something done. I have to finish it off tomorrow, although there's not much else going on, which is good.

My boss decided to tell me today that people keep telling him that I keep making mistakes on my tables. He does this every 3 months or so. Usually just at the point where we haven't been busy for a while and I can't think of a single example. Its really frustrating because I try to get it all right. It almost makes me want to not bother - if I get it wrong when I try and if I don't try I could just save myself the bother and it would have the same effect.

I really miss playing the organ actually. I haven't played it since Chanukah. The trouble is that whenever I go home I feel relaxed so I don't feel the need. It sounds weird but the dining room feels too small to play it when I'm there and mum and dad are on their computers. Wonder if I should try a different instrument?

Whoops! Didn't slash my center tag yesterday.

I was really annoyed at a stupid (male) driver in a flash car today. Somewhere between work and home I have to cross the main road. It was really busy close to work, so I thought I'd walk on the other side and cross later. When I reached the mini roundabout I realised there weren't many cars about so I decided to cross there. There was one car turning right, so I stepped off the pavement intending to cross behind him. But for some inexplicable reason he decided this meant he would slow down to a ridiculous speed and by the time I realised this I had to take a few steps back onto the pavement because a load of cars had appeared behind him and another load were about to run me over. So then I got to stand there for 5 minutes waiting to cross, all because of one stupid idiot. How do these people manage to pass their driving test anyway? Bribery?

A couple of recs, the website that goes with Posh Nosh and Vila's e-mails.

Check yourself into a mental hospital somewhere,
just get the hell away from me.

What Lord of the Rings engrish subtitle are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Had a bad day today - had a bad day yesterday today! Decided to cook something different. Started at 6.30, finished in time to watch The Bill. I had rice, fried chicken, fried mushrooms, fried tomato and soy sauce. Still have a load of mushrooms and chicken left that needs to be eaten up. Might end up eating nothing but that all week. Just as well it was good.

Accidentally deleted some stuff I didn't mean to, whoops! Downloaded the Aragorn screensaver and realised I already had it. Then remembered why I changed it - when he comes on I can't bring myself to get rid of him and do some work. *sigh*

It never occured to me in a million years that the Columbia breaking up might have been terrorists. Its just people putting 2 and 2 together and making 6 (you can get 5 from rounding errors).

So that Angel was all a dream? Whose dream was it, Angel's? Very confusing. And very annoying that we have to wait ages for the next one.

Alias: Wow. Don't have the words to say anything else.

I think I still have enough money to buy some books, which is good.

Yesterday the date was 1-2-3. Tomorrow it will be 3-2-3 which is also quite interesting.

Someone I know who is into slash told me there are people into slash who will essentially watch anything with portrayals of gay people in. Which apparently includes The Bill at the moment. Which is worrying. Its the fact that its not currently like typical Bill, the way it used to be and the characters involved are completely out of character. It makes me worried that these people think this crap is usual. I reached the point on Wednesday when Jack tried to kiss Debbie that I nearly turned it off. Its gone from being a cop show to one where all the main characters are having or have had affairs with each other. To be fair to Jack his wife has had a body transplant. But surely after having seen what she did with Chandler, he can work out whats she's doing with him? And Cathy seems to have her bitchiness now.

Currently listening to: Blakes 7 on BBC7