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My LJ has been devoid of significant content lately (why Hello Thar, Real Life), so I was planning on doing that TV Show meme that's been going around - hey, at least it's fannish! But I got bogged down on the last question, so I present you:

( (Abridged) TV Show Meme, and some musings )

In a bid to take my mind off this lack-of-sleep-causing heatwave (can it please be autumn now?), I went to a bookshop today. To buy one (that would be 1) book. Two bookshops and one hour or so later, I left with 7. Um... Oops?

Still, I now have the next two Temeraire books, which shall keep me occupied for at least one day this weekend. The only question is, do I start reading them now, or do I read through all the 'Why I joined OTW' week posts I have open in my browser?

Hang on... Damn you, Naomi Novik. Stop eating all my spare time!

Look, Ma, I'm getting things done!

In a bid to bring order to chaos organise my bookmarks, I finally got around to getting a del.icio.us account. I only intend to use it for fic recs for the moment - I'm slowly working my way through my bookmarks, starting from the most recent. It's slow going, because I'm re-reading as I go. Purely for quality control purposes, of course :) (BTW, any experienced users out there know if they support nested tagging? I may have got a little tag-happy... )

On top of that, I rang a friend from out of town, which I've been meaning to do for weeks now, and then managed some editing on that SPN_SW crossover I was rambling about a month or so ago. It's still only about half-done (I haven't even finished the first draft *sigh*), but any progress is better than no progress, right?

Subconsciously, I'm sure all of this activity was prompted by the fact that I only have one more day of holidays left. Why must all good things come to an end?

ETA: In the course of my link-hopping, I came across CrisC on FFN. Writes Rogues-focused fic, so of course I thought immediately off all you Wedge-loving fen on my flist. (Disclaimer - I've only read one of the fics, so I won't vouch for the quality of all of them. The one I read was quite good, action-focused.)

Still alive. Dead on my feet, but technically alive. *yawn*

Phantom was brilliant, and Anthony Warlow was hands down the best Phantom I've seen. He had both the charisma and the voice (and the insanity) to carry the role convincingly. Christine (mental blank on her name, sorry) was fine, marred only by truly dismal directing in 'Point of No Return'.

All in all, money well spent.

As you may have been able to tell by my continued absence, things have been rather hectic, and are looking to continue so for the forseeable future. I'm lurking around a bit, but comments and entries will be sporadic.

But before I slink back into lurkerdom, I just wanted to bring Project Download to your attention, if you haven't heard of it. In order to raise money for some rather expensive surgery, redscorner's is attempting to reach 5 million downloads at megaupload in order to claim one of their rewards. All you have to do is download a .txt file here (direct link).

So click, and keep clicking, and tell your friends. (Only one download from one IP address per day is counted)

Labour has the majority in the lower house, with a massive swing. Howard is gone. And it's looking likely he's going to lose his seat - only the second time in Australian history the PM hasn't won in his electorate.

Hmm. Harry Potter as PM...

And as an added benefit for my flist, this should be the last time I spam you with election-related posts. At least for the next few years *g*

Conferences are exhausting. But they provide excellent freebies, so I guess it evens out *g*

And, since I was there ridiculously early today due to the parking situation, I even had some time to do a little Mini Nano-ing in the morning. Which is especially good, since a combination of my rush to get the photos done in time for pre-christmas book printing, other real life commitments (haircuts yay!) and conference-induced exhaustion, I've been very slack. This weekend is not looking up either - between fulfilling my Civic Duty (Ugh, elections), professional/work development functions (2 in one weekend!) and social stuff I've already committed to, I'm not sure when I'm going to sleep, let along write or finish those photos.

On a less whining note, thanks to everyone who voted or commented on my Crossover poll (over 100 votes!) - it generated some really interesting discussion. When I get some time (Hah!) I intend to go over the poll responses and see if any interesting relationships fall out, but it's going to have to wait for a bit.

Right. Time to type up my words from this morning, and see if I met my goal.

ETA: Typing up those notes kick started a flurry of high-speed writing - 1519 words in less than an hour. Which means this is the first fic of mine to officially break the 10,000 word barrier... *gulp*

I've been thinking a bit about crossovers recently - writing them and reading them. Lucky you, I feel like sharing :)

I've seen crossovers get a bit of a bad rap, but I have to say I really like them* - I think it really gives the characters (and the author!) a chance to stretch their wings.

( Discussion and poll under the cut )

1021 words today! \o/ Despite work-induced brain-dedness.

Makes up for having the night off last night, I guess. Unfortunately, while writing I had an epiphany which, while it will tie up some of the more bothersome loose ends (like 'How/why did Sam and Dean get into the galaxy far, far away' - small things like that), will also require more ploti-ness and rewriting. *sigh*

But right now, I am going to read fic for half an hour.

After a couple of less-than satisfactory days, the Mini_NaNo is coming along swimmingly. 800-odd words yesterday, and 1290 today. \o/ There would have been more, but fialleril lured me into discussing the characterisation of Anakin and Obi-Wan on her LJ. If only I could count comments towards my word count...

So, in celebration of all things Star Wars, I bring you the following links: An AT-ST made from old computer parts. Now that's what I want for christmas.
ETA: That link appears to be dead, but you can watch the (very short) videos here and here. Look at the little LEDs which light up on its feet when he walks! So cute.

Also on the random linkage front, 'cause it's so much easier than comming up with something interesting to say myself, may I recommend this overview of the issues involved in the current WGA strike? If, like me, you've been interested in the use of what both parties so coyly term "New Media" for the distribution of shows for a while now, this dispute is definitely something to wach with interest. And the WGA strike if noteworthy for another reason - SFWA released a statement in support of the WGA, and I think it's the first time in years I've read an official statement from them and not felt like *headdesking*.

And now I am going to sleep. Zzzz.

This writing thing is so much easier when you have no other commitments - like dinner with friends (which was excellent, btw. Mmmm.... steak....). And the rest of the week is shaping up to be even worse. Still, so far I'm making my targets, so I can't complain too much.

Mini NaNo Counts
Yesterday: 837 \o/
Today: 611 words
Story Total: 3301

It is slightly sobering to think that in the first week I've made less than two days target for NaNo proper.

On the Hercules-watching front (yes, I'm still going), I think I have mentioned before the joys of catching 'before they were stars' roles in B-grade series. Today's guest star is Catherine Bell (Mac from JAG), and the notable guest on yesterday's episode was none other than Karl Urban - shirtless, in leather pants, leather harness, and wings. With blond hair. I can provide screencaps as proof if required - it's quite a look!

Today's Hercules also includes a dragon terrorising villages. Now I have 'Trogdor the Burninator' stuck in my head, something I could definitely have done without as I try to go to sleep.