But I do have a meme from selenay936:

Comment to this post, and I will list five things I associate with you. They might make sense or they might be totally random. Then post that list, with your commentary, to your blog/LJ/DW (or just add a reply back to me). Other people can get lists from you, and the meme merrily perpetuates itself.

selenay936 gave me:

Rotaract
It has been my source of friends, social life and knowledge of the local area since I moved here. It's weird not having it in my life quite so much any more. I collected for Children in Need on Friday, as I've done every year, and I had to wear a Rotary tabard. And we have to be more organised about seeing each other socially now that we're not meeting up anyway at least once a month.

So that's a fairly reasonable thing to associate with me. And I'm glad I have got the Rotaract name out a little bit because not many people have heard about it. Amusingly, while I was writing this bit, I was interrupted by a Rotaract-related phone call.

Tennis
Wimbledon's always been this big fixture in the calendar. It's only recently that I've started going to tennis matches. I'm going to the ATP World Tour Finals semi-final on Saturday. And next year I'm definitely going to two Olympic tennis days and two Paralympic tennis days. Plus am also hoping to go to Queens, Wimbledon and the last ATP World Tour Final in London. Which is quite a bit of tennis...

But there is something about Wimbledon and the atmosphere. More so for home Davis Cup matches where almost the whole crowd on Court 1/the NEC are cheering for Team GB so loudly. Except when we're losing when it gets a bit depressing.

So, yes, I like tennis. Although mostly I only watch the men because the women are boring and grunt, which is annoying. The men's game feels like it has more stars. It certainly has more status in this country, but at least some of that could be due to Henman/Rusedski/Murray versus no decent British women players.

Doctor Who
I do like Doctor Who. Doctor Who fandom makes me think I don't and it's only when I see a new episode that I remember I like it. It's not my favourite TV programme, it's just the one that I am involved in (bits of) the fandom currently.

But I do like that it has time travel (I love time travel - time is my favourite bit of physics). I also like that it has historical episodes, so that's two of my favourite things.

Cats
My parents have always had cats. So I like cats. I can especially talk about cats when I've just been home for a long weekend. Not that I actually played with Timmy - he did all his playing outside. But he did take great delight in sleeping where other people wanted to be sitting, investigating an Amazon box by getting in it and answering questions by making noises. No idea what they mean (except for the noise that means he wants someone to play with him and the ones that means there are birds outside). Cats are entertaining and relaxing and useful for eating spiders that have come in the house.

Having Interesting Adventures Unintentionally
Er, I do this? I would say I don't mean to, but that would be the point of the unintentionally bit above. I think it comes from a mixture of bad luck and a tendency not to know when to leave well alone. But at least they're interesting adventures.

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Animals, Life, Meme, Rotaract, Sport: Cat, Doctor Who (New), Life, Meme: other, Rotaract, Tennis, Timmy

But I did sort out, with my sister, what Olympics tickets we want to apply for. We ended up with the maximum number of sessions at £1550 between us... But think we'll only get half of them, if we're lucky, so it won't cost too much. And it'll be the price of a holiday, so it'll be my holiday for the year.

In an effort to wake me up from the hot weather and holiday stupor, have a meme, that I saw on lost_spook's LJ:

Give me the name of a character and I will tell you the following:
1. How I FEEL about this character
2. All the people I ship romantically with this character
3. My non-romantic OTP for this character
4. My unpopular opinion about this character
5. One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon.

PS Doctor Who was good, I liked it. And if anyone's not following Stephen Fry on Twitter, who announced it this morning, John Sullivan (writer of Only Fools and Horses) has died. It's clearly that sort of week.

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Life, Meme: Life, Meme: fandom

melliyna

avon7

1. My first drafts consist of getting all the plot onto the page as fast as possible before I forget it. Sometimes when I go back and read it, I don't even know what I meant.

2. I do many drafts. I've got into the habit of keeping them all now, in case I change my mind and want to go back to an earlier version. Generally it starts with first draft, then a re-write, then onto the editing. And yes, there is a vast difference between re-writing and editing.

3. I have very little visual memory and I rarely see stuff in my head. It means that I'm quite happy not to read description and I do quite happily skip entire paragraphs when I'm reading because I just don't care what stuff looks like. I'm also quite happy not to write description, but I can't get away with that. My editing stage mostly consists of adding description and taking a load of rubbish out. Which you'd think would make the edit shorter, but no, it makes it longer.

4. I do tend to write a lot of stuff with only two people in. I don't know why. I think it's partly because I get lost with more than two people in a scene, although I suppose that's just lack of practice. I think mostly it's because what I'm most interested in, when I'm writing, is the relationship between those two people.

5. I find that writing to a deadline tends to get me to actually sit down and write. Otherwise I find much more interesting things to do than writing.

6. Most things I write I think about beforehand. Sometimes for a long time, usually in bed when I'm trying to sleep, or at weekends when I can lie there for a while, thinking. Sometimes when I write the first draft I have to stop and think about what the characters are going to say, then write it. Generally I'll write some sort of plot down, based on what's in my head, in case I forget it. Sometimes I don't think about it for ages, pull my plot description out, and then I remember it all again.

7. I find writing long things hard - perhaps because exploring the relationship between two characters doesn't involve much plot. My natural length seems to have ended up being around 1500-3000 words these days.

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Meme: Meme: writing

Tonight I managed to get the pair short program into about an hour but cutting out anything that wasn't the actual skating. But tonight's the free program which has more skating, then tomorrow there's a GB curling match and I'm going out for pancakes in the evening.

And there's only so much Olympics you can watch in an evening. Fortunately I have nothing planned for the weekend, so it might involve watching a lot of ice skating and curling and a bit of other sports...

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that various people have been posting their TV series for the meme at isurrendered and there's some really interesting stuff there. I think I have the smallest cast...

Copper won the prize for guessing the connection between the actors in mine: they've all played policemen/women:

• Peter Davison was DC 'Dangerous' Davies in The Last Detective
• Ben Peyton was PC Ben Haywood in The Bill
• Philip Glenister was DCI Gene Hunt in Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes and also DCI William Bell in State of Play
• Jaye Griffiths was DI Sally Johnson in The Bill

Georgia Moffett only played a policewoman's daughter: she was Abi Nixon, DS/DI Sam Nixon's daughter in The Bill.

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Meme, Sport: Meme: other, Olympics

lost_spook gave me:

Detective drama set in the 90s/80s/70s/60s/50s (take your pick; you can sell the resulting soundtrack album even if the show doesn't take) around a disgraced ex-spy and his 17 year old daughter who's had to leave her posh boarding school. They're forced to form a detective agency to fight crime and avoid poverty (because working in Tescos is less dramatic). With supporting cast as large or small as you like.

Which I thought would take a while, but it turned out it didn't...

In the Red
Set in 1993

Main characters:
Harry Jones (nee Terry Jones) played by Peter Davison.

He's an ex-MI5 spy who was turfed out in disgrace after it was found that he was taking bribes. He did it to provide his daughter with everything she wanted because she lost her mother and doesn't see her father much, since he's away with work. He put her in a posh boarding school, since he wasn't around enough to look after her, but when they set up their detective agency he finds that he doesn't really know her at all. He spends the series trying to understand his daughter and mostly failing, and also trying to go straight.

Scarlet Jones, played by Georgia Moffett

Harry's 17 year old daughter. She's really unhappy about the situation she now finds herself in. She doesn't care about not having got her A levels, she just misses her friends and her old lifestyle and hates having to hide. However, she's also a pretty good actress - she learnt to act posh at her boarding school, so no one would suspect that she wasn't. Now she's got used to being posh, she's having to act like someone with no money and no qualifications. Her skills come in handy when going after criminals.

Supporting characters:
Will Pearson, played by Ben Peyton

Will is a rookie young PC who's immediately taken with Scarlet. He flirts with her, until he meets her father and his attitude towards anyone going after his little girl. Scarlet ignores her father, but Will is scared enough not to make a move. However, that doesn't stop him from being attracted to her and flirting with her. Occasionally it gets in the way of his policework.

Mike Wilson, played by Philip Glenister

He's the landlord of The Red Lion, Harry's local pub. He's also an ex-copper and he runs the pub with his wife. He has his ear to the ground as far as the local gossip goes and he's a good informant for Harry. Mike understands that not everything is black and white, although at least in his case leaving his old job was his decision.

DI Rachel Davies, played by Jaye Griffiths

Davies is the head of CID in town and has a long-held grudge against Mike. Davies is efficient and you have to work hard to get past her outer shell. Being a black, female DI in a small town is hard and she works long hours to show that she's just as good as anyone else.

6 one hour episodes on BBC1 at 8pm on Tuesdays.

Episode 1: Terry is kicked out of MI5 in disgrace for taking bribes. All his money is taken away from him, he's hounded in the press. He has to take his daughter, Scarlet, out of her posh boarding school because he can no longer afford the fees. She's less than impressed about this. Since he's a master of disguise and she's never been in the press, they leave London and go to the countryside. He has a new name, Harry (fortunately Jones is a common surname), and and new identity. Scarlet manages to get a job at Tescos and hates it, he signs on. In the process they discover a crime, solve it, and at the end of the episode, he decides to set up a detective agency.

Episode 2: Scarlet isn't happy about working for her father, but it's better than working in Tescos. She's surly and uncooperative through most of the episode, but brightens up a bit when she meets Will, the local PC, who's young and good looking. They're attracted to each other, but he's dissuaded from making a move because he's scared of what her father might do.

Episode 3: Harry gets a tip-off from the landlord of the local pub - who's an ex copper. He has a grudge against the head of CID in the town, DI Davies. Harry and Davies butt heads over the case but work together to solve it in the end. Harry discovers there's two sides to every story when both Mike and Davies tell him their side of the story about why they hate each other. Harry spends the rest of the series trying to keep the peace between the two of them.

Episode 4: Two of Scarlet's friends turn up during their school holidays. Scarlet desperately tries to get in with them, but they laugh at her. However, one of them is attacked and they gain a new respect for her when she helps find the attacker and bring him to justice.

Episode 5: Harry is finding life hard without money and goes back to his old way of taking bribes. After all, catching the criminals and getting money off them pays better than handing them over to the police. And then he's caught in the middle when the police catch up with the briber. At the end, when it's all sorted out, Davies wonders why the taking bribes bit rings a bell. Then she recognises him, although Harry knows nothing about this.

Episode 6: It all looks like it's gone horribly wrong when Davies confronts Harry about who he really is. He tells the truth to Davies and Mike in the hopes that they'll trust him now that they know him. And he points out that he has been punished. However, his friends are coppers or ex-coppers and they're less than impressed. Suddenly he and his daughter are persona non-grata in the town. It's only when Harry solves the latest mystery, when he recognises someone from his days in MI5 that they agree to let the past lie. However, his friendship with Davies and Mike isn't quite the same as it was.

Other notes: The series gets good reviews and a second series is commissioned after the first two episodes have been shown. Series two keeps the same mix of crime and personal lives. Scarlet and Will continue their will-they-won't-they relationship and kiss at her 18th birthday party. We get more backstory on all the main characters, another threat to Harry's identity when an old colleague turns up and Harry struggles to stay on the straight and narrow when he gets into debt. At the end of the series Davies is promoted to DCI and leaves for another station in a bigger town.

Series 3 does less well with the loss of one of its main characters. Her replacement is widely disliked and her relationship with Harry doesn't have enough chemistry to make it believable. With Peter Davison saying before the series started that he didn't want to do a fourth, the series sees Scarlet joining the police force and finally get together with Will. In the final episode Harry is outed to the national press and abandons his detective agency to go on the run.

There is a connection between the actors who play the main characters - and Georgia Moffett is the odd one out. Bonus points to anyone who can work out what the connection is.

The trouble with having written all this is that now I want to see it...

Permalink | 3 comments | Categories: Meme: Meme: other

So have a TV meme instead:

Name a TV show series in which you have seen every episode at least twice: Red Dwarf. I think that might be the only one actually.

Name a (current) show you can't miss: Everything I currently watch, I watch every episode of.

Name an actor that would make you more inclined to watch a show: Only Ewan McGregor, but that's more of a film thing. And I wait for them to be on DVD because he's been in quite a lot of weird stuff that's not very good.

Name an actor who would make you less likely to watch a show: Johnny Vegas. He's like nails down a blackboard to me.

Name a show you can, and do, quote from: Hitchhiker's maybe?

Name a show you like that no one else enjoys: I am quite fond of Wife Swap USA in small doses. Americans are crazy people.

Name a TV show which you've been known to sing the theme song: Red Dwarf. It's impossible not to when someone's say "It's cold outside".

Name a show you would recommend everyone to watch: Victorian Farm. Informative and funny.

Name a TV series you own: Just one? There's Red Dwarf. I even have most of it on DVD (just VIII I only have taped off the telly). I have all of Babylon 5 on video. And given the effort I went to to get it all as cheaply as possible, it's too upsetting to think about getting rid of them for any reason.

What is your favourite episode of your favourite series? White Hole from Red Dwarf IV. Not the most popular, but it plays with time and I like time (as a concept).

A show you mean to watch, but you just haven't got around to yet: There's one sitting around on my PVR from before Christmas about early man, or something like that.

Ever quit watching a show because it was so bad? Oh, yes. Lost and Heroes spring to mind.

Name a show you aren't interested in watching, not in the least: If I'm only choosing from one I've never seen anything of... maybe Black Books. I remember the trailers not being funny in the least, which is never a good sign.

Name a show that's made you cry multiple times: There isn't one.

Oldest TV show you like? The Avengers.

Newest TV show you like? Leverage.

What do you eat when you watch TV? That's a crap question. When I eat I either read or watch TV and what I watch depends on what's on my PVR.

How often do you watch TV? I usually watch a bit every day when I'm having a lie down during the evening.

Do you have a favorite talk show? No, I've only watched the odd one when someone I like has been on. And that's mostly Jonathan Ross.

What's the last TV show you watched? I watched last night's Argumental this evening.

What's your favourite/preferred genre of TV? Cop shows. Including the subgenre of murder mysteries.

What's your least favourite genre of TV? Soaps. Those programmes that make you ring up to vote people in or out, or something.

What was the first TV show you were obsessed with? I remember being allowed to stay up late to watch Blankety Blank...

What TV show do you wish you'd never watched? Flash Forward for how dizzy it made me.

What's the weirdest show you enjoyed? I don't think I've watched anything that weird. Not that I can remember anyway.

What TV show scared you the most? Casualty. I had to leave the room and lock myself in the bathroom. And then come out again to turn the TV off because there was no one else around to do it...

What is the funniest TV show you have ever watched? Red Dwarf.

Which do you think is the best TV series ever made? Red Dwarf.

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Meme: Meme: TV

And a drabble meme from lost_spook I've been waiting to put up until I'm feeling well enough to think:

The first TEN people to comment in this post get to request that I write a drabble of any pairing/character with a prompt. In return, they have to post this in their journal, regardless of their ability level.

Although feel free to ignore that last sentence - it's not like I'm going to be checking. By first ten people, I mean first ten notifications in my inbox regardless of whether they come from my blog, LJ or DW.

There's a list of fandoms I've written in on the left of my fanfic archive, but feel free to request anything I know. If I really can't write it I'll just get you to pick something else.

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Life, Meme: Ill, Meme: fanfic

First, a toast - to the Professor, since it is Tolkien's birthday.

And a meme from melliyna that looked fun:

Pick a fandom! And then I will say who from the fandom I would...

1. bake cupcakes for:
2. trust with the keys to my car (if I had a car):
3. put thumbtacks* on their chair:
4. have a crush on:
5. pack up and leave if they moved next door:
6. vote for President:
7. pick as my partner in a buddy movie:
8. pair up:
9. vote off the island and into the volcano:
10. wheedle into fixing my MP3 player:

*Bonus question: What's a thumbtack? Is it a drawing pin?

Permalink | 2 comments | Categories: Meme: Meme: fandom

February
February I got ill, although I had started some stuff.

March
Friend of Sarah Jane (Sarah Jane Adventures)
The Brigadier’s barely left when Sarah encounters another old friend.
Words: 1173

A Life Full of Compromises (Doctor Who)
Sarah and Harry’s long and non-disastrous marriage.
Words: 4323

April
Small Creatures (Doctor Who)
The Ninth Doctor uncovers a mystery in the Brigadier’s garden.
Words: 3756

May
May I had a birthday and a Conference

June
June was the month of tennis and melliyna visiting

July
Sirius Black, Specialising in Sexual Education (The Master Becomes the Apprentice Remix) (Harry Potter)
Sirius and his knowledge of safe sex.
Words: 2750

August
Scenes from a Government Project (The Italian Restaurant Remix) (Doctor Who)
Jack Harkness turning up at Harry’s annual dinner with Sarah brings back memories of Harry and Jack’s first meeting.
Words: 2509

September
September involved a lot of writing, but less finishing of it that month.

October
Not Just a Pretty Face (Doctor Who)
Just for a change, it’s up to the Fourth Doctor, Sarah and Harry to save the world from the monster.
Words: 4930

November
November involved being ill and starting Yuletide.

December
Hoops and Bumps (Press Gang)
It doesn’t matter if there’s a deadline approaching, it doesn’t stop Spike and Lynda from arguing, Sam manipulating Kenny or Colin selling something he shouldn’t have bought.
Words: 5507

Memories Are Not Made of This (Press Gang)
It’s just the usual sort of conversation between Spike and Lynda. Set before At Last a Dragon.
Words: 1024

Total number of fics written: 8
Total number of words written: 25,972

My Favourite Story This Year: This is a hard decision, but I think I'll go for A Life Full of Compromises because it was interesting to think about how Sarah and Harry could have had a happy marriage given that I don't think they could have.

My Best Story This Year: I'm not sure any of them stand out particularly, but I'll say Memories Are Not Made of This as it went down well and Lynda and Spike banter is fun to write.

Most Fun Story: Scenes From a Government Project (The Italian Restaurant Remix) if only because the whole time I was writing it I was cackling to myself about what hhertzof would think of it.

Sexiest Story: There are a few contenders for this, but Sirius Black, Specialising in Sexual Education (The Master Becomes the Apprentice Remix) wins as it features a scene involving putting condoms on bananas.

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Small Creatures if only because I'd never written the Ninth Doctor before and never really thought about him much at all.

Hardest Story to Write: Hoops and Bumps. Partly because I had to start it while I was ill, partly because I changed the plot a lot as I went on and partly because the only way I could stop changing things was to post it and leave it be. Well, only edit it once the next morning anyway.

Biggest Disappointment: That of all those fics, I only wrote one that wasn't for a ficathon and that I started before I was ill.

Biggest Surprise: Writing characters and fandoms I've never written in before (outside of Yuletide). And enjoying it and discovering that I could if I tried.

Most Underappreciated Story, In My Opinion: I can't remember how most of these were appreciated, so I'll say Hoops and Bumps because more people liked the other Press Gang story I wrote for Yuletide even though I took less time over it and sweated less over it.

My Overall Thoughts on this Year's Fic: Actually more than I thought and more variety than I thought before I wrote it out. I'm very glad I didn't sign up for TARDIS Big Bang. This year I need to write for fewer ficathons (which shouldn't be too hard as I've gone off writing for anonymous ones that aren't Remix or Yuletide and I don't intend to run the Sarah & Harry one again this year). I also need to write Harry into SJA since I've done that for every series. And finish some of the things I've started/written out the plot for last year.

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Fan fic, Meme: Meme: fanfic

What's Your Sarah Jane Adventure? Name Age Favourite Character Your adventure will feature: the Blathereen and: the Sontarans You will have to: steal a superweapon with: Chrissie You will be: disturbed But eventually you will: prevail This Fun Quiz created by Llin at BlogQuiz.Net

It's the part where it says we'll be disturbed that amuses me no end.

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Meme: Meme: quiz

hhertzof

Since it was supposed to be a fannish top five, I thought I ought to go for fictional ones:
1. Pancakes (The OC)
2. Anya's bunnies (Buffy)
3. The bunny from Pulling Princes etc
4. The ones on my ruler my sister brought me back from France
5. Er, now I've run out. That was a hard list to do

hhertzof asked for five Chalet School characters who should have travelled with the Doctor:
1. Joey - she'd have loved the adventure
2. Jack - I think she'd have surprised the Doctor by understanding the TARDIS and knowing how to fix it
3. Jem - it would certainly open his eyes
4. Miss Annersly - the Doctor would have obeyed her every command
5. All of Joey's children at once - because it would be funny

melliyna asked for top 5 parent and child relationship moments:
1. Jo leaving the Doctor because it's so sad
2. Elrond giving Aragorn Anduril in the ROTK film because you don't get many parent/child moments with those two, apart from in the Appendix. And also it's a very beautiful sword
3. Sarah talking about her parents with Luke
4. When Mickey tells Jack about being raped
5. Qui-Gon dying and Obi-Wan being all upset because that was so sad too. Er, it's all about the sad stuff really...

lost_spook asked for top five Harry moments (I won't necessarily specify which Harry, that's up to you) and I was going to do Harry Sullivan, except I realised I already have (and amazingly, managed five too). So I did Harry Pearce instead and this probably shows my lack of memory of Spooks specificness:

1. When Ruth calls him and asks him to come round to hers and he pauses, not sure what she's actually asking
2. In the last series, taking off his tie and killing the man following him
3. I forget what actually happened now, but the start of the series before last where he orders a bombing, or something like that
4. At the end of the one with the bombing of Parliament Square where he turns out to be alright in the end and for a moment everyone would've cheerfully strangled him for knowingly putting him through that
5. When he knows he's about to be pulled in, but sits quietly with his drink and his music and waits for them

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Meme: Meme: fandom

And now for the meme that's been going round and I hadn't got round to putting up yet:

Ask me my fannish Top Five [Whatevers]. Any top fives. Doesn't matter what, really! And I will answer them all in a new post. Possibly with pictures.*

* There won't be pictures.

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Meme, TV: Meme: fandom, Midsomer Murders

lost_spook gave me: Harry (Sullivan), Harry (Pearce), Sarah Jane, Hobbit and Blogging.

Harry Sullivan
It's not possible not to love Harry, he's just so lovable. I never expected it at all, but he's become like Elrond for me - he's the one I want to write about. He even gets in between Sarah and Luke. I usually love parent and child relationships where the two aren't related, so Sarah and Luke should be perfect. Except I want to really write Harry and Luke with some Sarah in there...

Harry Pearce
Everyone at work agrees that Harry's the person in Spooks whose job we wouldn't want. It makes him into a fascinating character because he makes such hard decisions. Plus he's one of only two characters that's been in it since the start.

Sarah Jane
I think I answered about Sarah before but I can't remember what I said and can't be bothered to look it up either. Sarah's the character I write most about which is entirely due to her part in New Who and SJA, because she's far more interesting older than she ever was in the series. And her relationship with Harry interests me too, even if that's mostly based on her reaction to his disappearance in the Sarah Jane Smith audios.

Whatever SJA might have decided, I can't change to calling her Sarah Jane because she was always Sarah in the books etc and Harry also never calls her Sarah Jane.

Hobbit
Hobbits were the characters in LOTR I liked the most - until I discovered Half-Elves. I suppose they're supposed to be the most like us, but I really liked Pippin and Sam. Plus they have great birthday traditions

Blogging
I like blogging. I've been doing it since 2002. I might have started during the 90s when I came across Livejournal on bored.com, but someone already had the username I wanted, so I didn't bother. When I did start I went with Blogger. They've made a lot of improvements since, but only after I moved over to WordPress. I like WordPress because it's easy to use and you can get plugins that do pretty much anything you could ever want, plus a lot of things you never would.

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Meme: Meme: other

1) Comment to this and I will give you 3 characters.
2) Post this meme with your answers.
3) Provide pictures and the names of 3 people.
4) Label which you would marry, shag, and throw off a cliff.

I can't be arsed with the photos, though.

netgirl_y2k gave me Harry Sullivan, Alan Jackson and Jo Grant:

Jo Grant: Cliff. Not that I dislike her, it's just I'm not going to marry or shag a girl, being as I'm "so straight", according to Sel. Plus there's also the irony of Cliff Jones.

Harry Sullivan: Shag. I couldn't marry him, I'd end up throwing him off a cliff. He's very sweet, but he'd drive me mad.

Alan Jackson: Marry. Mostly by elimination, but also because he is cool. The downside is that he comes with the baggage of an ex-wife who's always around and a daughter.

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Meme: Meme: other

I am getting better, if slowly (and don't have concussion, which is good after I hit my head on the kitchen side on Thursday night) and this has been marked as unread in my emails for a while:

Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your blog and elaborate on the subjects given.

tanaquilotr gave me Doctor Who, Elrond, food allergies, Davis Cup, fencing:

Doctor Who
Doctor Who was always one of those programs that I'd have watched if it'd been on telly, but just never was. And I didn't have UKGold. I happily saw the three stories the BBC showed while I was in my third year at uni and the 30th anniversary night with the Paul McGann film. But apart from that I could take it or leave it. Although I was quite annoyed that the BBC started the new series the first night I was in Australia and I didn't get back to England till the fourth episode.

But I watched it and I liked it and it was all good. And then I watched some episodes with the Seventh Doctor and Ace and then bought all the audios and books (although not the New Adventures), which was also good. I think it all went wrong somewhere around School Reunion and I ended up in a fandom I hadn't intended to...

It occurred to me, mostly at Redemption, that Doctor Who has now turned into another Stargate for me. By which I mean, I'm happy to watch the episodes and enjoy them, but discussing them ruins the enjoyment. So I read and write fanfic for bits of it and roleplay a couple of the characters and run a ficathon, but I'm happy to stay the SJA/Sarah part of the fandom these days. Course it helps that the people in it are great people that I've met

Elrond
I kind of miss Elrond sometimes. I joined LOTR fandom thinking I'd be a hobbit person, given that the only bits of The Two Towers and Return of the King I'd found remotely interesting were Frodo and Sam's story. Except somewhere along the line I discovered the Appendix and with it a wonderfully angsty Half-Elf. And his foster son.

The only trouble was that I ran out of things to say about Elrond and it felt like all the fanfic I read about him was the same as what had gone before. I want to get back into the fandom and read & writing Elrond, I just don't know what'll do it. Although if they do actually make The Hobbit, that ought to have Elrond in it...

Food allergies
I actually don't have any of these. It's my skin that seems to be allergic to most things. I do have lots of food intolerances, though, which is possibly what Tanaqui meant. Most people don't understand the difference, which is why I tell people in restaurants I'm allergic. Plus it helps if they think I might die, then they might actually do what I ask.

I share some of the same food intolerances as my mum, so I've definitely inherited them from her (and it's just another reason why I don't want kids). I keep hoping some of them will go away but I just seem to gain more. They all affect me slightly differently, but tend to go along variations of tired/dizzy/ill/sick. None of which is fun.

But I can tell people definitively that denying yourself a food will make you crave it. I really, really want pie and pizza. And when I first couldn't have milk I really craved cornflakes with milk.

Davis Cup
This is the (male) tennis equivalent of the FA Cup (women play Fed Cup). Or whatever it is football has these days. We are currently a bit rubbish because we haven't got enough good players and are currently in Euro/Africa Zone 1. The premiership equivalent is the World Group, which only has sixteen countries in it. And Spain can win that without Rafael Nadal, which tells you how good they are. (We can't win a Zone 1 match without Andy Murray).

But Davis Cup is great for seeing tennis when there's a home game at Birmingham NIA or Wimbledon. Because the players are playing for their country rather than just themselves the atmosphere is so different from Wimbledon - it's very loud for a start! There's nothing quite like it for a bit of patriotism - when we win. Unlike last weekend's appalling performance where we lost 3-0.

Fencing
I started fencing at uni, mostly because we almost had it offered to us in sixth form, but did archery instead (which I was rubbish at). I thought I ought to do some sort of exercise while I was there and picked fencing. And I liked it. When I moved up here I looked up the nearest fencing club and I was glad for it because it was the one thing I could do that was familiar. My best friends from uni, that I'm still in touch with I either know from the Modern Sci-Fi society or from fencing. I miss it, I just need to get better before I go (and when I go and decide which car I want, I will be taking my fencing kit to make sure it fits inside).

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livii gave me: Rotaract; Sarah Jane Smith; travelling; driving/cars; the colour pink.
Rotaract
People associate this with me, excellent. Plus I should talk about it more. Rotaract's the reason why I can stand up in front of any number of people and talk without being nervous. It's the reason why I went to Romania. It's the reason why I'm celebrating my 30th birthday by running a Conference. It's the reason why I've played human hungry hippos. It's the reason why I wear a dress twice a year. It's the reason why I have friends in this area.

Sarah Jane Smith
The first story I ever saw with Sarah in was Genesis of the Daleks when the BBC randomly showed a few episodes while I was at uni. I don't remember either her or Harry in it though...

Sarah's not my favourite companion. She's probably not even my second favourite (after the favourite the list gets a bit hazy), she happens to be the one I write fic about most. I don't know why. I prefer her older, though, she's more interesting than younger Sarah.

Travelling
I hate travelling; I like having got there. This is partly because I get travel sick and also because I worry about what I'm going to be eating. But I like seeing other places and some of them are a long way away, so you can't get away from the travelling thing. But a big part of the reason why I like living here is that it's not much more than half an hour away from London on a fast train, and that's useful.

Driving/cars
I hate driving and I always have. It's why I had to have refresher lessons a couple of years ago because as far as I was concerned passing your driving test meant not having to drive any more. Having done some test drives, part of the reason I hate driving is because it's so hard in my car. But it's also because you have to concentrate on so many things, yet at the same time it's not enough, so my mind wanders. And then it goes a bit wrong.

I am a girl when it comes to cars - the most important thing is the colour. I have learnt some stuff about cars from Top Gear, but none of it is any use when it comes to the sort of cars I can afford.

The colour pink
I don't actually like pink as much as people think I like pink. It's just that it's quite like red and red's my favourite colour. But it's easier to find pink clothes than red. And pink goes with more than red.

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February
Was busy writing the TARDIS Big Bang fic

March
At the Beginning (Doctor Who)
It starts with a concert
Words: 1031

Not Just for Christmas (Sarah Jane Adventures)
A dog is for life, not just for Christmas
Words: 1655

April
Drowning (The Hero Remix) (Doctor Who)
It was supposed to be a simple trip across a lake.
Words: 2306

Bad Timing (Doctor Who)
Of all the occasions to choose to propose marriage, an autopsy probably isn’t the best one.
Words: 1256

May
For Her (Doctor Who)
Steven/Dodo drabble
Words: 100

Not Dead Yet (Doctor Who)
Harry/Martha drabble
Words: 100

Writing for Life (The West Wing)
Unhappy Sam double drabble
Words: 200

Shower (Stargate Atlantis)
Jack/Elizabeth double drabble
Words: 200

June
Sarah Jane of the Chalet School (Doctor Who/Chalet School crossover)
AU. In the 1930s in Austria, Sarah Jane Smith comes to the Chalet School to teach while looking for a journalism job, and Harry Sullivan takes a job at the nearby Sanatorium. They meet and fall in love, but with these two it’s never going to be that simple.
Words: 26,176

July (cheating a bit since these are both old fics I uploaded in July)
Last Alliance (Tolkien)
Haldir and Isildur meet before a battle
Words: 1519

Five Relationships Jack O’Neill and John Sheppard Could Have Had (Stargate/Stargate Atlantis)
Between them, Jack O’Neill and John Sheppard were in love with five people. But if they’d just done something different…
Words: 4697

August
Rain, Rain Come Again (Doctor Who)
Another dinner for Sarah and Harry, another unexpected event.
Words: 3649

September
I don't know what I was doing in September, but clearly it wasn't writing

October
October I have the excuse of going on holiday for half of it

November
Never the Same Again (Doctor Who)
Jo says goodbye to the Doctor.
Words: 1050

Doctor for an Hour (Sarah Jane Adventures)
Mr Smith might be able to get Sarah into the hospital, but there’s only one person who can make sure she doesn’t get thrown out of it.
Words: 100

December
The Secrets in Team (Bugs)
Beckett and Ed still have one more secret from Ros. Set after A Cage for Satan.
Words: 2274

Snow (Cambridge Spies)
Guy compares Russia to England.
Words: 100

Daddy (Spooks)
Just like a family, they don’t always agree.
Words: 200

Treasure (Spooks)
Brief moments in the lives of Harry and Ruth.
Words: 200

Total number of fics written: 18
Total number of words written: 46,813

My Favourite Story This Year: Sarah Jane of the Chalet School because I spent so much time writing it (and researching it and planning it).

My Best Story This Year: Drowning (The Hero Remix). Of course it helps that I only had to think up half a plot for it, but it also helps that I really liked the original.

Most Fun Story: Bad Timing because it's full of quite ridiculous things.

Sexiest Story: Probably Sarah Jane of the Chalet School since it involves more kissing than the others, and it is a romance story after all.

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Daddy because I hadn't thought of the idea of the Spooks team being like a family, but it really works.

Hardest Story to Write: Not Just for Christmas - I spent a lot of the time writing this, not writing this.

Biggest Disappointment: Not getting more written. And still having the requests I asked for back in June sitting in my inbox, having not even started them. Yet.

Biggest Surprise: Writing Drowning (The Hero Remix) in two days.

Most Underappreciated Story, In My Opinion: Sarah Jane of the Chalet School because although my betas loved it and I got reviews for it on Teaspoon, I still feel bitter that it only ever got one comment on the Big Bang site.

My Overall Thoughts on this Year's Fic: I wrote the longest thing I ever have and I wrote romance for the first time. But next year I need to write more drabbles and write more and not do the TARDIS Big Bang.

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2. Did you keep your New Years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't remember if I made any.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No

5. What countries did you visit?
Canada

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Quiet neighbours

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
18th October because it was the day I flew out to Canada

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I bought a new laptop

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not managing to go back to fencing

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I was ill while I was moving, which was probably a stomach bug, rather than a soya intolerance

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My laptop

12. Where did most of your money go?
New mattress, laptop, holiday to Canada, moving house-related things

13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Going to Canada

14. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Probably the latest Coldplay album because both me and my sister (independently) had it in our car stereos, so I heard it a lot of times when I moved

15. Compared to this time last year, are you richer or poorer?
Poorer, I think

16. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Writing, swimming, sleeping

17. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Can't think of anything I'd be able to get away with doing less of

18. How will you be spending Christmas?
At home

19. Did you fall in love in 2008?
No

20. What was your favourite TV program?
Of new things I saw this year, Outnumbered. Of old things, Spooks

21. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Just one person

22. What was the best book you read?
I don't know, there were lots

23. What was your greatest musical discovery?
The Killers and similar bands (according to last.fm)

24. What did you want and get?
A new job

25. What did you want and not get?
A million pounds?

26. What was your favourite film of this year?
I must have seen some films but for the life of me I can't remember a single one now...

27. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was at the Rotaract National Conference. And I am still in my twenties, that's all you need to know.

28. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Not moving but having quiet neighbours anyway

29. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Whatever I pick up out of the wardrobe first

30. What kept you sane?
My friends

31. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
It's always Ewan McGregor

32. What political issue stirred you the most?
There must have been some, I just can't think of them now

33. Who did you miss?
I don't know that there was anyone

34. Who was the best new person you met?
All the TR people (except for Manda, who I already knew)

35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
Er... Don't live in Canada, the weather's strange?

36. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
I'm crap with song lyrics

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But this is about my level.

+ stop! what you're doing.
+ print screen of your current desktop
+ if you have last.fm open, print screen
+ if you have a music player open, print screen
+ pick a folder, open it, print screen

Because my computer keeps moving my icons around, here's the desktop from my laptop. Those icons represent pretty much everything I use on that computer because I can't find anything on the start menu. The wallpaper is from Suse Linux that I copied over to this one.

I didn't even know that wasn't Abba doing Dancing Queen till I opened this...

Since last.fm is my music player that last one takes care of two of those points.

On my computer I have a love of folders. I don't have Explorer maximised and if I have so many documents in it that I have a scroll bar that's clearly cause to create a new folder. On my laptop on the other hand, I haven't really been organised at all, so this is my Documents folder.

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