Now that amazon have had a redesign I only have to click once, rather than twice, to get to my rental list, which is handy. But five minutes of searching hasn't located my wish list. Anyone any idea where the link to it has gone?

Saturday I went to Birmingham to meet up with a friend and go to Memorabilia. I bought four books - I was limiting my spending to books, so that was good. What wasn't so good was when we went into town afterwards and I bought a discounted remote controlled K9...

Anyway, there I saw the likes of John Billingsley, Deborah Watling and Lisa Bowerman and some Spitting Image puppets.

I went and got Lisa Bowerman's autograph. I knew she was there but thought to myself I didn't have anything for her to sign. No, just the Survival DVD cover and all those Benny CDs and books. Nope, nothing at all then. But it costs the same regardless of whether you have something to sign or use one of their pictures, so at least this way I got a free picture. She only had one that was her rather than her in a cheetah outfit. She said lots of people try to tell her they recognise her from that, which she said was mad because they couldn't possibly tell.

Davros had a Casualty DVD from when she was in it a long time ago. So then they discussed how much it had changed and she helped him put the DVD back in the box as they discussed how difficult it is to do because they don't make them big enough. She's been in Casualty more recently too and she sent them her CV, but they clearly didn't look at it because they asked her all sorts of questions about whether she knew what it was like and whether she'd seen it!

It was nice that there was no queue so there was plenty of time to stand and chat. I've only just remembered that she was in Spooks too (briefly) and I should have asked her about that.

After a day spent on my feet I then got up early (well, it was early by GMT at least) to go and help out at the World Pooh Sticks Championships. I got to direct traffic, and people for a few hours. By the time I got home all I wanted to do was sit down and eat lunch - I didn't eat until 3pm which is late in any time zone. I just threw all my stuff down and didn't worry about most of it until this morning.

I noticed last night that my keys weren't in their usual place on my bedside table, but I didn't worry about it because I'd probably left them in my coat pockets. This morning I put my coat on and my keys weren't in there. I spent a couple of minutes frantically searching my untidy lounge and checking the outside of my door just in case but they were nowhere to be found. You can't get in the house without them, so I knew there was in the house somewhere.

Since I was going to be late for work I dug out my spare keys and decided to worry about it later. When I got home I had my spare keys in my hand and wondered where to put them temporarily, as I'd put them back in my bag when I found my other keys. I came into the lounge, saw the top of the shelf nearest the door where my doorbell lives and considered there briefly before I realised I was in fact looking at my keys. I just wasn't looking high enough this morning...

Including such excitements as car insurance letters, openid and ficathon writing. Read more...

After reading loads of Chalet School books and then coming across Can Any Mother Help Me? I got interested in this whole idea in the 1930s of married women not being allowed to work.

I've discovered it's because of the Depression, which makes a lot of sense, but what I want is a book, if one exists, that tells me more about how it came about, how it affected people (men as well as women) and how it ended.

I've looked in Borders, in the history section, and found nothing. But a google search has various books listed in Women and Feminism sections, which makes me think I was looking in the wrong place. However, what I can't yet find are descriptions of any books that give me any idea of whether they'll tell me what I want to know.

So, anyone know anything useful?

Oh, wow, that was good. Now all the cop shows have finished, what am I going to do now? The answer, I think, is watch gmul's Between the Lines DVDs. Assuming they're better than the first episode, which bored me.

Going slightly backwards in time from my last post, last Thursday I picked hhertzof up from the station and we went back to mine past what's now a housing estate, but was where they filmed The Invasion. The relevance of this will be more obvious later.

Then we went to a different train station via the village where they filmed The Android Invasion. I accidentally went through it rather than round, so when I got back and watched bits I honestly can't say whether it's the same place or not. If it is then they've put road markings down since.

By the time we got to Cardiff it was raining (unsurprisingly for Wales). We went to see Sarah Jane's house, and Alan and Maria's.

A quick trip to the castle (well, as fast as you can go up a keep with steep, slippery steps) and some second-hand bookshops and the Oxfam bookshop, and then we visited Torchwood. And I can prove that the invisible lift really works.

It turned out the Doctor Who Exhibition opened past 5pm and only cost £4, so we went round that taking photos of nearly everything - it was handy it was so empty. When we came out I might have accidentally bought a sonic lipstick and little remote control dalek. The latter is a black version of an ordinary gold dalek I have, so I will have to get myself some pink paint and paint them in the summer when I can do it outside - it doesn't matter if I accidentally paint the grass pink.

To sum up, I enjoyed Eastercon and am looking forward to Redemption. I don't know whether I'll make another Eastercon, though, because usually they'll clash with passover.
Read more...

Well, my body is back, goodness knows where my brain is. I had a good time, didn't drive in too much traffic, didn't panic too much on the M25, didn't crash the car, saw snow (it didn't settle, thankfully), didn't have enough sleep, met lots of people (apart from hhertzof and selenay936 that I went with, there were also various ZZ9ers, someone I know from uni, randomly (but my first Redemption I met someone I knew vaguely from Rotaract) and some other people who I've probably forgotten). My hands are falling apart now, either from using hotel soap when not in our room, or from the very cold rooms, or both.

I really, really don't want to do any fannish stuff now, I don't know if it's because I enjoyed talking to people more, because I'm all fanned out or because I'm just tired. Or a combination of all of them. I will also be the only non-trainee in my department at work tomorrow, and Rotaract meetings Tuesday and Wednesday night, so don't expect anything more coherent than this out of me until later in the week/next week probably.

I was thinking how well my back's been doing recently, and then I went to lunch on Sunday that ended up going on for four hours. Monday night I woke up in the night and couldn't move because my back hurt so much - on both sides as well. I'd had enough of it, so I went to the doctors on Tuesday and saw a random doctor, who might be a locum or new. She said it wasn't anything serious, but was a common site of pain as it's the top of my pelvis where there are some big ligaments. She thought my flexibility was really good, but then this was mid-morning when it was a lot better. She should see me first thing in the morning when I can't walk.

Anyway, she prescribed me co-codamol. So I took two of those on Tuesday, then one Wednesday morning. Then Wednesday morning I was so ill, like I haven't been for a few months. I had to go home for a couple of hours I was so sure I was going to be sick. I have taken two ibuprofen before and felt quite ill, so my bosy obviously can't cope with strong painkillers.

The doctor offered me less strong co-codamol, but given that the strong ones didn't do anything for the pain that one ibuprofen does, there didn't seem like much point in spending another £7 and possibly being ill again.

On the plus side, this doctor seems more willing to look into my back - she couldn't work out why sitting would make it bad. So if I go back, I'll try and see her.

Am off to Cardiff today with hhertzof, if she ever makes it here, and then to Eastercon tomorrow with selenay936 where I definitely plan to do belly dancing (I'll have to get up early enough that I can walk by then) and card making. And dance in the celidh. And catch up with the lots of people I know who are going.

(I am very excited by WP 2.5 though, it looks good)

I've nearly read all the stories in my to read folder. It doesn't help that jay_of_lasgalen will never stop writing long enough for me to catch up. She's like some sort of unstoppable machine

Making Acquaintance by bodkin_ra: First meetings maybe signify more than it would seem. Hobbits. And a wizard.

Watching The Sunrise by jay_of_lasgalen: On midsummer's day, Elrohir tries to persuade Elladan to wake up early.

The Price of Being Peredhil by jay_of_lasgalen: The Valar's gift to the Peredhil of the choice between mortality and immortality comes at a high price. An elf says farewell to his brother and twin.

Wedding Nerves by jay_of_lasgalen: A story written for a birthday request. It was supposed to be a drabble, but it grew! It shows Aragorn as King, on the brink of his wedding to Arwen. Elladan and Elrohir - of course - make their presence felt.

Far From Home by jay_of_lasgalen: Trapped by a blizzard, Elladan and Elrohir face a bleak, lonely Midwinter far from home - and they begin to question their priorities.

Thoughts From Home by jay_of_lasgalen: Elrond passes a lonely Midwinter without those he loves - but there is always hope for the future, and a wish on the Midwinter star comes true.

Comfort by bodkin_ra: Elladan attempts to cheer his brother up.

Trouble by bodkin_ra: A youngish Elladan and Elrohir manage to irritate the Lady of Imladris. Glorfindel is no help.

Size isn't Everything by bodkin_ra: As the Fellowship go south, it becomes apparent that being small doesn't make you helpless.

I had plans to do all sorts of things today, but then I got up at 11am, went out for lunch at 12pm and didn't get back till 4.30pm. However, I managed to post my story for the Ian/Barbara ficathon: At the Beginning so now my page with the list of all the fic I've posted on with the calendar at the top has an entry for 2008. It was actually quite nice to be able to post it without having to fiddle with the date - so much easier.

I've also been reading all the other stories posted, although they've all merged in my mind so I'll have to go back and work out if I'm going to review any for selenay936's site.

I did also edit another chapter of my TARDIS Big Bang fic. It's now at 19,000 words and 22 chapters to go to finish v2. Might take a while.

I'm definitely better today and I've been good and got lots of things done. Because I didn't clean last weekend and hhertzof is visiting next week I couldn't let her see a dirty house, so I cleaned it. Some of it, though, is just so bad it's crying out for a spring clean. I'm waiting till we change the clocks so I can do a bit each evening - at the moment it gets dark just after I get home. I have the distinct feeling that time will come upon me very quickly.

I even found the box for my old printer and not only fit the new printer box in the space in the cupboard, but also found space for my single quilt that's been hanging around my bedroom for the past two months. I just need to do something about getting rid of my old printer and the ink cartridges I had spare for it.

Then I went to Tesco and bought their whole selection of chocolate buttons (I was down to two packets!). Annoyingly, even though I spent over £50 I didn't get a voucher for 5p off per litre of petrol. I think you only get those when you don't need petrol. So now I need to decide how much to put in, since I'm going home at the start of the month where it's 3p cheaper. (Incidentally, in the Budget special in the paper on Thursday it had a list of some of the petrol prices in Europe, and also listed America, which is less than half the price here.)

Tescos was really stupidly busy - it's only shut for one day next weekend: Good Friday and Easter Monday are normal bank holiday openings. So that took me forever. So I've completely failed to do any writing today, something I must rectify tomorrow, being as it's the deadline for getting the TARDIS Big Bang first draft in. But then the reason I did as much as possible today was that so I could have tomorrow off.

I am definitely getting better, although still the best thing I do all day is lie down with my eyes closed. I feel so much better afterwards. I still think after 10pm is a late night (bearing in mind I get up for work at 8am) but I am actually feeling 50% there even when I'm most tired.

Also, of the nine people in my new department at work, six of them are ill at the moment. So there's definitely a few things going round, I just don't have the one with the cough which is creating a nice chorus from behind me in the office. And makes it more obvious that you're ill.

The most annoying thing is that this is World Rotaract Week - and today is Rotaract's 40th birthday - and I could be out every night. Instead the only night I've been out was Tuesday night and that was because I had to give a talk.

I appear to have flu, which would go a long way towards explaining why I've been so tired the past couple of days. So if I make a comment that appears to make no sense, that would be why.

On the plus side, my nose is better: either because I finally got round to sorting out the mould in the bathroom, or because I've been taking a hayfever nose spray.

Something that I just don't get about prompt comms and how they're different to every other comm on every other website I've been to.

Everywhere else, the mods or admins always make themselves know. And it's always easy enough to find out who they are, even if it's just a name. The RPs I'm in, if I don't know the names of the mods, I at least know where to find out. I might not know anything about them, but I at least know they're a person.

Prompt comms on the other hand, with a few exceptions, there's nothing anywhere ever that tells you who the mods are. Believe me, I've looked. I suppose there's nothing to stop me asking, but there's no way to get that question across without sounding like you're a bit of an arse.

That's why on the profile page of oncoming_storms I made it said who the mod is (well, it gives Harry's LJ, but on that it has a link back to mine). It just seems like good manners to me to have it there. And it reminds people that the mod is only human and is therefore not omniscient or infallible.

But what's the difference with RP prompt comms? Why the secrecy? On the drabble and flashfic comms there's always a way to know who the mods are and they're quite a similar thing.

It could lead to misinterpretation like one I've read recently. On it, the mod says that they're affiliating with various other comms on the basis that they're non-wanky (fandom definition). But for all I know, it could actually be that they're all run by the person writing the post. It's probably not, but there's nothing to say otherwise.

I had to go to bed last night even though I hadn't got everything done. So then because my brain was still working I couldn't sleep. I was fine this morning but once I got past lunchtime it's been a struggle. So now I've got back from my meeting, I've given myself the rest of the night off, so I'm going to watch Monday night's program on Black Holes that I thought was on on Tuesday. Thank goodness for 4oD. Slightly brain dead is probably the best state to watch physics for the masses because it tends to be too simplistic (cf last night's Horizon about searching for intelligent life).

But in the meantime, a meme from just_ann_now and rivrea:

Give me a fandom and I'll tell you...

1. The first character I fell in love with
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't
4. The character I love that everyone else hates
5. The character I would sleep with anytime
6. The character I'd want to be like
7. The character I'd slap
8. Favourite character
9. Five favourite characters
10. Five least favourite characters
11. Character I am most like
12. DEEP DARK SECRET REGARDING THIS FANDOM
13. A pairing (or more!) I love
14. A pairing (or more!) I despise
15. Five favourite things about the fandom
16. Five least favourite things about the fandom

It seems the thing to do in one of the games I'm in at the moment, and I've actually been meaning to talk about the characters I have at the moment anyway. I just know that most of the people reading this won't have a clue what I'm talking about, or care. Read more...

I don't usually write this fast, I swear but my Remix fic is in beta already. I was quite amused to see the letter from the person I'm remixing for since I'd already looked through what they'd written, so the letter to say here's where it is and what it's like was entirely superfluous. And the 'what I like' bit obviously was since this is a write for yourself ficathon.

I also worked on my Big Bang fic, which actually went quite well once I got into it. I now have 17,600 words, some of them better than others and most of them dialogue.

For this year's Back to Middle-earth Month, I'm reading. I have 24 email alerts from Stories of Arda dating back to January last year. So I am going to work my way through those, hopefully read some older ones to review for Sel, and maybe have a look at some authors I haven't read.

Since it won't be much of a B2MEM without me writing about it in here, I'm also going to talk about what I've read:

Celebrían's Special Day by jay_of_lasgalen: Celebrían also has a special day, and Elladan and Elrohir plan a surprise for her - a greater surprise than they realise.

Dragons in the Trollshaws by bodkin_ra: A peril awakes that demands all Elladan and Elrohir's attention - and requires more than skill to defeat.

The Dwellings of the Dead by nilmandra007: The lands of the Dunedain of Cardolan are ravaged by war and plague. On a scouting expedition, Elrohir and Glorfindel discover that there is more to the decimated landscape than meets the eye.

16.948 / 50kg (33.9%)

Good things at the moment:

• I've finished my Ian/Barbara ficathon fic! By finished I mean it's betaed and even has a title and summary.
• I got my Remix assignment and have already decided what fic I'm going to remix and how I'm going to do it
• I took over as mod of oncoming_storms and changed the rules and posted some prompts and it has actually gone down well! Phew
• last.fm is playing me more songs I like and fewer I dislike these days, so it's actually learning nicely and I think I prefer it to Pandora now. So Pandora actually did me a favour by going US-only.
• It's the weekend
• The sun is shining
• I've actually done most of the things I need to do this weekend already. I'll leave a couple till tomorrow, though.
• I'm feeling slightly more like I might get all my ficathon commitments done along with everything else going on - specially in March
• I went to see Juno last night which was very good and cheered me up.
• Tonight I'm going to a school disco - but Rotaract run so more fun than the ones you can go to in clubs etc. Nothing I'm planning to wear bears any resemblance to my secondary school uniform.

This morning I woke up and was hot and couldn't find a cold bit of the bed. Given that I bought a double bed so that I could always find a cold bit, I just moved me and my pillows to the other side. Which was just as warm because it had a warm quilt covering it. Come summer I think I might be back to the single quilt so the bed's cooler.

I've had this slightly strange cold for a while and I can't quite be bothered going to see the doctor about it because she'll just say it's a lingering cold. Then I realised that I've had the same slightly strange cold this time of year for the third year running now. Which suggests I'm allergic to something. I would say flower pollen but it started before the flowers decided it was spring. It's a bit academic what it is, though, because the only thing to get rid of it is hayfever medicine. Since it costs £5 for a bottle that lasts 10 days and tastes horrible, I don't feel so bad I want to take it.