Depeche Mode has a new album as of today.

It's a very good thing I'm home alone right now: I made a very embarrassing noise, right out loud, when Dave Gahan started singing on the first track.

Oh goodness.

And I am sick, and miss my fannish life, and want my course to be over, and want to vid again, and that is all.

Here's a giraffe, from the Calgary zoo--Victoria Day long weekend, 2008, when my Jay came to visit me:

thefridayfive never goes away. Nice to have a constant!

1. Could you live without your phone for 1 week for $500? For $500 I'd do it. I'd manage. I'd buy a watch and resort to e-mails.

2. Whom do you talk to on the phone the most? linden_jay: every day in text, almost every day the old fashioned way. deerdancer: fairly frequently through text. My mum, sometimes my dad, every Sunday. And, of course, patients at work, telling them "Your contacts are here. Now come get them, you dweeb, you were so desperate to have them, why do you let them sit for weeks on end? Dweeb!!"

3. Whom do you no longer talk to on the phone but wish you still did? sara_elf. Phone calls to Japan=expensive.

4. If you could get ahold of one celebrity phone number, whose digits would you want? Adrian Pasdar. I'd ask him to read the phone book to me.

5. Do you talk on the phone more or less than you used to? Significantly less than when I was in high school--at least in casual, personal terms. If I factor in work, I probably actually end up talking just the same amount.

***

I need more icons.

Also? Where is all the Chuck porn? OMG where has this show been hiding!

I don't know, exactly, what's happened over the past year. A lot of personal things, of course--struggles where I've always struggled, being homesick after returning to Calgary from seeing my parents and friends at Christmas, the writers' strike crippling TV, learning a bazillion new things in my job (career!), computer issues, feeling like fandom had become an overwhelmingly negative place.

I don't know, at this point, if I'll ever actually get caught up. I've lost touch pretty much with all of you, and that sucks. I'm trying--I'm always trying--and holy crap, have I ever written up a storm with linden_jay, who is my rock. I have not vidded; my desktop computer has decided it cannot handle it, and while my new laptop is capable of it, I have not the software with which to do so.

So I've posted a little fic, and I've been playing over at Citadel and City on the Make over at JournalFen. I've worked my butt off at work to get to the position I'm in right now. I've struggled through bouts of depression. I've discovered what it is like to live on my own and fend for myself, for short periods of time, as my aunt and uncle have gone away. I've struggled with my health and a pinched nerve in/near/around my left hip. I own a bazillion and a half fabulous pairs of glasses and sunglasses.

I miss everybody. And while I don't miss some of the meta, I've missed the sense of belonging I'd discovered in fandom. And it's not like I belong any better outside of it, either, which has made it all that much harder to be so very much on the outside of things now. That's probably half of what's kept me from diving back in--when you're gone for so long, how do you catch up? Where do you start?

I'm lying in bed with my laptop, stuck with a nasty cold that I've been fighting for nearly three weeks now, and feeling existential, or something.

Pardon my rambling.

This is posted at the request of my Jay, and not quite a proper recipe as such, as I sort of made these off the cuff. I don't even know what to call them!

What you need:
1 small bag new potatoes (maybe about a dozen or so)
Italian dressing
parsley flakes
finely-grated parmesan cheese (though I abstain from that smelly-feet Kraft stuff)

Here's what you do:
Heat your oven to 375°F. Wash, de-eye, and quarter your potatoes. Toss them with Italian dressing in an appropriately-sized bowl. I'm not sure how much I used; just enough to cover the potatoes and leave some at the bottom of the bowl. Let them sit a moment as you lightly grease a square baking pan. Put the potatoes in the baking pan, then in the oven for a half-hour. Mix the potatoes, add more dressing if necessary to keep the bottom of the baking pan lightly covered, and pop the potatoes in for another twenty minutes. Mix the potatoes again, and sprinkle on parsley flakes and parmesan cheese. Cook your potatoes for another ten minutes, and you're done!

I still love Heroes. I do strongly fear, of course, that after this year I'll be back to only watching one TV show (which would be House) now that SGA is to be no more, too, but, dammit, I still love Heroes.

So there. *is stubborn bitch

In some parts of the world...

IT'S ALREADY PETRELLIDAY.

Just Might Be
by ashinae & linden_jay
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard
Rating/Warnings: NC-17
Spoilers: No major plot twists. Takes place before the end of season 3.
Disclaimer: Written for fun, not profit. Will return the boys in one piece.
Summary: If necessity is the mother of invention, then rumour is the bastard child of truth.

Word count: ~7000

( Rodney was surrounded by idiots. )

Twilight
by ashinae and linden_jay

Pairing: Nathan/Claire
Rating/Warnings: NC-17; prostitution, dub-con, mention and aftermath of rape (by original, not canon, characters).
Spoilers: Up to the beginning of season 2. This would take place within the first few episodes, but doesn't follow the established plot.
Disclaimer: Not written for profit.
Summary: "I wasn't trolling for a hooker. I just happened to bump into one."

Note: This is a multi-part, but complete, story. This is not a work in progress.

Previous Parts: Teaser, Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five, Chapter Six, Chapter Seven, Chapter Eight

( ''I can't go backward, and I can't die. That leaves going forward.'' )

Twilight
by ashinae and linden_jay

Pairing: Nathan/Claire
Rating/Warnings: NC-17; prostitution, dub-con, mention and aftermath of rape (by original, not canon, characters).
**This chapter deals specifically with the aftermath of rape**
Spoilers: Up to the beginning of season 2. This would take place within the first few episodes, but doesn't follow the established plot.
Disclaimer: Not written for profit.
Summary: "I wasn't trolling for a hooker. I just happened to bump into one."

Note: This is a multi-part, but complete, story. This is not a work in progress.

Previous Parts: Teaser, Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five, Chapter Six, Chapter Seven

( One thing Nathan had said was right. Claire did feel pain, until she healed. And she remembered all of it. )

Twilight
by ashinae and linden_jay

Pairing: Nathan/Claire
Rating/Warnings: NC-17; prostitution, dub-con, mention and aftermath of rape (by original, not canon, characters).
**This chapter deals specifically with the aftermath of rape**
Spoilers: Up to the beginning of season 2. This would take place within the first few episodes, but doesn't follow the established plot.
Disclaimer: Not written for profit.
Summary: "I wasn't trolling for a hooker. I just happened to bump into one."

Note: This is a multi-part, but complete, story. This is not a work in progress.

Previous Parts: Teaser, Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five, Chapter Six

( Nathan tried not to think too much about what they were doing. )

Twilight
by ashinae and linden_jay

Pairing: Nathan/Claire
Rating/Warnings: NC-17; prostitution, dub-con, mention and aftermath of rape (by original, not canon, characters).
Spoilers: Up to the beginning of season 2. This would take place within the first few episodes, but doesn't follow the established plot.
Disclaimer: Not written for profit.
Summary: "I wasn't trolling for a hooker. I just happened to bump into one."

Note: This is a multi-part, but complete, story. This is not a work in progress.

Previous Parts: Teaser, Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five

( Nathan imagined other men's hands on her; he hated the thought. He hated his jealousy. )

Twilight
by ashinae and linden_jay

Pairing: Nathan/Claire
Rating/Warnings: NC-17; prostitution, dub-con, mention and aftermath of rape (by original, not canon, characters).
Spoilers: Up to the beginning of season 2. This would take place within the first few episodes, but doesn't follow the established plot.
Disclaimer: Not written for profit.
Summary: "I wasn't trolling for a hooker. I just happened to bump into one."

Note: This is a multi-part, but complete, story. This is not a work in progress.

Previous Parts: Teaser, Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four

( ''Hi,'' Nathan said, quietly. ''How's business, Claire?'' )

Twilight
by ashinae and linden_jay

Pairing: Nathan/Claire
Rating/Warnings: NC-17; prostitution, dub-con, mention and aftermath of rape (by original, not canon, characters).
Spoilers: Up to the beginning of season 2. This would take place within the first few episodes, but doesn't follow the established plot.
Disclaimer: Not written for profit.
Summary: "I wasn't trolling for a hooker. I just happened to bump into one."

Note: This is a multi-part, but complete, story. This is not a work in progress.

Previous Parts: Teaser, Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three

( ''Are you having a good time out there?'' he asked. Nathan's voice was a rough growl. ''Enjoying what you do, Claire--does it make you feel special?'' )

So my aunt and uncle have two dogs. Tango and Trudy. They are Border Collies. Tango is a boy, Trudy is a girl. They're about 10/11 years old.

They hate thunderstorms. They run and hide and cower and I fear they will expire, poor babies.

There was a monstrous clap of thunder not long ago; one of those ones where the house shakes, just a little, and you go omgwtf!

I hear the sound of a dog scrambling. I know Tango will be in his bed in my auntie and uncle's room; so it must be Trudy. And I think nothing of it.

( And then I have to pee. )

linden_jay? Stop laughing at me.

Twilight
by ashinae and linden_jay

Pairing: Nathan/Claire
Rating/Warnings: NC-17; prostitution, dub-con, mention and aftermath of rape (by original, not canon, characters).
Spoilers: Up to the beginning of season 2. This would take place within the first few episodes, but doesn't follow the established plot.
Disclaimer: Not written for profit.
Summary: "I wasn't trolling for a hooker. I just happened to bump into one."

Note: This is a multi-part, but complete, story. This is not a work in progress.

Previous Parts: Teaser, Chapter One, Chapter Two

( Nathan couldn't help himself right now, let alone her, that much was clear. Maybe she could do something for the both of them. )

Twilight
by ashinae and linden_jay

Pairing: Nathan/Claire
Rating/Warnings: NC-17; prostitution, dub-con, mention and aftermath of rape (by original, not canon, characters).
Spoilers: Up to the beginning of season 2. This would take place within the first few episodes, but doesn't follow the established plot.
Disclaimer: Not written for profit.
Summary: "I wasn't trolling for a hooker. I just happened to bump into one."

Note: This is a multi-part, but complete, story. This is not a work in progress.

Previous Parts: Teaser, Chapter One

( ''I'm really not up to sarcasm from a guy who stumbles around alleys with a rat taped to his face, drunk and trolling for hookers.'' )

OK, here's a toughie. This is for my mum. She's just bought a new computer, and is using Windows XP still, and she runs the website for her dog club. She uses Dreamweaver 8 and WS_FTP. She's having a problem--it seems that the new computer won't sync up properly between Dreamweaver and the website and WS_FTP and I really don't know how to help her, particularly with the Dreamweaver issues.

Is there anybody who'd be able to help her?

Twilight
by ashinae and linden_jay

Pairing: Nathan/Claire
Rating/Warnings: NC-17; prostitution, dub-con, mention and aftermath of rape (by original, not canon, characters).
Spoilers: Up to the beginning of season 2. This would take place within the first few episodes, but doesn't follow the established plot.
Disclaimer: Not written for profit.
Summary: "I wasn't trolling for a hooker. I just happened to bump into one."

Note: This is a multi-part, but complete, story. This is not a work in progress.

Previous Parts: Teaser

( She doesn't look the same at all, and it's not just the haircut and dye job. She's changed. )

Twilight
by ashinae and linden_jay

Pairing: Nathan/Claire
Rating/Warnings: NC-17; prostitution, dub-con, mention and aftermath of rape (by original, not canon, characters).
Spoilers: Up to the beginning of season 2. This would take place within the first few episodes, but doesn't follow the established plot.
Disclaimer: Not written for profit.
Summary: "I wasn't trolling for a hooker. I just happened to bump into one."

Note: This is a multi-part, but complete, story. This is not a work in progress.

( "Why? Need something to warm you up?" )