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because I haven't been able to archive my LJ, in case there's a meltdown, I'm copying a fanfic that I don't have elsewhere.

This is one that I've written and rewritten a bunch from a long time ago.

Title: Having the quality of it
Fandom: historical fiction, Alexander the Great
Characters: Princess Drypteis, Queen Sysigambis, Hephaestion Amyntoros
Pairings: Drypteis/Hephaestion
Summary: Drypteis' POV on her arranged political marriage to Hephaestion.
Excerpt: What does one call the man who murdered ones’ kinsmen? “Dear Husband”?
Beta: No. But it has been spell checked and gone through multiple edits.
Wordcount: 600-700
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own any of these people but my interpretation was inspired by Mary Renault's Funeral Games.
Background Info: Drypteis is the daughter of Darius, the Persian king whom Alexander defeated in battle and then succeeded to the throne. Alexander gave her in marriage to his companion Hephaestion, who died not too long after, when he was still in his 30s.
***

Comments adored.

( Having the quality of it )

More of my fanfiction (Guy/Marian and Mulder/Scully, prominently)
Fanfiction.net
Mad Blood Stirring


My two WIPs are Guy/Marian from Robin Hood, they are "Creature" and "Most Unwanted". The former is a parody, the latter a serious drama, so the first is being written faster. Also includes my drabble "wilfull of my way", which was first posted here, and the fic that launched me into writing again. I'm very fond of that one; it's gotten a funny reputation among Guy/Marian fans and I like to think of it as the "Marian in a box" story. One of my good friends, bookishy, referenced it in her amazing story Fallout.


Anyway, not much else to report. Starting school again in a week and that'll be that.

I found this gathering dust on my hard-drive.


Title: Windmills (or "But dreamers often lie")
Fandom: TV - The X-Files
Summary: Assumes a particular fanfic cliche about William and his parents re-uniting after The Truth. I was thinking about writing something longer but never did.
Spoilers: William, The Truth (seasons 8 – 9)
Wordcount: 372. One-shot.
Disclaimer: I think we all know that the show would have ended differently if I had owned it, yeah? Title is a Cervantes reference.

***
( Windmills )

Apparently this hurricane is going insane. People living in Galveston are being told that they need to evacuate or they are for certain going to be dead. And that's a little strong for the weather service, ya know? Luckily we live too far inland (this is also part of why I choose to live inland, as a rule) and my family is going out of state for the weekend anyway, but it sticks in my brain.

Met with some career counselors today and discussed my predicament. I have two major career path options and I'm afraid to choose between them, so my counselor recommended I meet with an emotional counselor and we did a test, and she gave me homework to talk with advisers from relevant departments (it sounds obvious, and it is, but it's good for me to hear things repeated). I thought I did a pretty decent job of explaining my position and she gave some excellent justifications for going either route.

I'm looking, to clarify, at becoming an academic specializing in history and classics, or working in international policy for the government.

I'm also very tired.

My Halloween costume will be postponed until I finish the LSAT, and depending on how well I'm doing in my classes. I'm trying to make up for last semester.

I do owe michony and sakushachan a comprehensive review of FRVS. I've been trying to write a story of my own and I have a fantastic beta who's extremely enthusiastic and supportive and she's wonderful about keeping my characterizations in line and giving plot feedback, but it's still coming along slowly. I think I overthink the plot and I overlook details. Case in point, a 5 page scene that I've rewritten maybe five times, I watched the show again last night for research and found that I'd misunderstood some of the original action and script and now I have to rewrite that part of the plot (which was, unfortunately, not a throwaway portion).

So that's all.

Sudanese troops kill at least 27 within Darfuri refugee camp; other sources say 50.
Some 100 government trucks surrounded the Kalma camp, home to some 90,000 people who have fled their homes in Darfur, a rebel spokesman told the BBC. There is no independent confirmation of the reports but international sources have been told that Sudan wants to disarm the camp's residents.


also, is the jargon now "Darfuri" or is it just "Darfur"? I know that "Darfur" means "The Fur [People]" but I never got the pluralities and adjective permutations down.

anyway, got to go

I wrote some fanfiction and it's not Guy/Marian, omgSHOCK. I am working on that. But hey, I do have a sore spot where Mr. Of Locksley is concerned. Especially because what happened to him really does suck, no matter who my favorite characters are.

Title: Body
Fandom: TV – BBC’s Robin Hood (2006)
Characters: Robin, the gang, and Richard
Pairings: Robin/Marian, Will/Djaq
Spoilers: heavy for the season 2 finale
Summary: Robin's POV near the end of the last episode. Nothing actually happens, but that's kinda how I like it sometimes.
Warning/Rating: PG and angst. This is, as I told dragondreamfire, angst distilled.
Beta: The magnanimous bookishy looked over this once for me and gave some suggestions. In the final version, all problems are my own.
Length: 624
Disclaimer: I don’t own this show or the characters (not that this show owns the characters either but that’s beside the point)
***
( Body )

a friend of mine painted a gorgeous Harry Potter fanart and I promised to buy it from her but could not afford the frame and the shipping. She sent me the plain print at a discount price but still needs to cover her costs, so she's trying to auction off her personal copy (it's a print, not the original) with the frame now. Proceeds will go to Medecins Sans Frontier/Doctors Without Borders, that fabulous medical aid organization.

Here's the auction itself

watching The Princess Bride and I never remembered that conversation between Dread Pirate Wesley and Buttercup (before she realizes who he is) when he threatens to beat her up. Probably venting his anger over her engagement to the prince.

I am having to come to grips with the fact that I ship, in some meaning of the verb, an abusive, unhealthy relationship, and let's be honest, mostly because it's hot. If Guy of Gisborne from BBC's Robin Hood weren't tall, muscular, and pretty, I would probably have Marian pat him on the head, thank him for saving her life, offering to forget all the times he endangered it, and walk out the door with Robin. Of course, if Guy weren't so pretty, he'd probably have a hard time believing her whenever she pretended to want him. So we have a relationship built largely on chemistry, with only a paltry serving of real affection and kindness. This isn't even like Bennett and Darcy dislike, if you haven't seen the show, it's open physical abuse and manipulation.

Which explains how I'm a bit of a lone wolf in the Guy/Marian club, always asking fanfic authors to "please remember that Guy is a jerk, yeah?" and rejoicing in stories where Guy gets his comeuppance as his price for "getting" the girl, with Marian depressed. Such happy stories! Another fan asked me why to bother with shipping something like this, and I basically had to default on a claim of intellectual interest. But there is a part of me that really does think that they could you know, make a go of it, and it may have as many bumps as a Tennessee Williams's play but that only heightens the attraction for me.

Embarrassing as this is to admit, I want to see Marian and Guy get married and have babies and relationship angst but hot sex and Guy become a nicer person for Marian just as she becomes more forgiving. Which is COMPLETE AND TOTAL FANTASY but it's a nice one, believing that people actually can change. Which I have trouble believing in real life, so maybe that's why it's attractive here.

so.

this is me not doing anything I'm supposed to be doing. By which I mean errands and life.

I'm in Seoul.
I saw a protest but it was a peaceful demonstration with more cameramen and tourists than actual people holding signs, nothing scary, so don't worry.

also tired tired tired, so good night.

is anyone else having trouble getting X-Files Ultimate.com to load, or is it just me?

also, Obama has the presidential nomination and I feel like a million bucks.

Fandom character meme snagged from nanthimus.

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. Favorite character
9. Three other favorite characters
10. Three least favorite 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. Three favourite things about the fandom
16. Three least favourite things about the fandom

RIGHT.
So, I actually have negative amount of time to get work done but I am getting ridiculous about this Robin Hood show. Already I've seen 93 music videos for it. Yeap (you know that's one of those things you're never supposed to actually count). And written three drabbles based on screen captures and short episode clips.

oh yeah.

This is the most accessible of them and I will share it:
Title: wilfull of my way
Fandom: TV – BBC’s Robin Hood (2006)
Characters: Guy and Marian
Pairings: canon (which means Guy loves Marian loves Robin loves Marian hates Guy). Phew. Gotta love them love triangulars.
Spoilers: yes, but for what, I’m not sure. I haven’t seen episode titles, only youtube clips.
Summary: snapshots of an infatuation (see usericon for exact snapshot referenced). The title comes from a Robin Hood ballad
118A.24 ‘I am wilfull of my way,’ quoth Sir Guye,
‘And of my morning tyde:’
‘I’le lead thee through the wood,’ quoth Robin,
‘Good fellow, I’le be thy guide.’
Excerpt: It would be trying my luck to touch her now, let alone to kiss her, but oh, how it burns. The thought simmers between my lips.
Warning/Rating: PG?
Beta: none, but yes it has been given the MSWord spell check treatment
Wordcount: ~230
***
( wilfull of my way )

many of my icons have disappeared (thanks, IJ!) but I'm not complaining 'cause I do get so many (not complaining much). In the process of replacing some, I realized that I don't have near as many MSR icons as humanly possible so I sought to rectify that. Although, looking at the list now, I see that I still don't have enough. Ho-hum.

That is all!

edit: now we have 18 MSR icons. Still doesn't feel like enough. But I feel awkward posting on everyone's entries with repetitive themes; not like I'm tiring of them, but I don't want other people to tire of me. And yes I had to italicize that word. It keeps my HTML skills in shape after all those hours using BBS (seriously, what gives?)

and many of the icons are more personal and more "I chose this on a whim" than my usual grueling choice making. For instance, I had an urge to represent the fact that my hair texture is curly, and hence this icon. It's midnight here and I really don't want to face the day so I will say something interesting about China instead.

It's a known fact that most people here have straight hair. Came as a shock to me that there are some ethnic groups who do have curls, mostly from the north, but in general, hair is straight, and hair care products reflect that market. The only curly products are for artificially curly hair, and thus to be a foreign girl who is very vain about her naturally curly locks requires some creativity (and money).

I ended up going with L'Oreal for stressed out/air polluted/sun damaged hair, and it's been okay. I didn't want to have to have my Aveda imported in when I don't know how long it will last and how long I will have to carry it on my back when I go traveling.

Okay, fine, liveable. What is not so compromising is the stance on skin care.

See, I like sunblock because I don't want to burn and get melanoma. Pretty simple, yeah? The sunblock here also has whitening formula, because everyone wants white skin. Not even going to breach the implications of that bucket of worms right now, but what this means for the consumer who is satisfied with her skin tone is that she gets a whole new set of active ingredients doing something she didn't necessarily want. I don't know even what the stuff in whitening creams does - one of my friends claims it's got some carcinogens? a shame as that defeats the biggest point of using the cream anyway. I'm pretty sure it's the reason I had some skin irritations for a while. Magically, they went away when I stopped using the product.

Not for me.

I'm going to have to go downtown during the week to a foreign supermarket, then, to buy sunblock now. Hopefully they'll have it.

okay, I really have to go now if I want to pass my classes
good night

Just got back from Beijing and the Great Wall this morning and went straight to class. Now I'm on my lunch break.

Whatever panic has ensued from the Earthquake has not reached as far as Beijing or Shanghai, no worries there. We did have a national three minute moment of silence to honor the victims yesterday.

This is me on the Great Wall in my geeked out "Frankie Loves Larry" shirt (it's a joke about X-Files spoilers, if you didn't know - Frankie and Larry were Scully and Mulder's codenames - respectively - on the script call sheets so that prying fans wouldn't figure out what was going on. Or, so that they would, and would feel smart, who knows). We went up to the Simatai portion and hiked for hours, got down to sleep, got up for the sunrise and then hiked some more. Yesterday my friends toured the hutong neighborhoods and got a massage (boo! boring!) while I went to the Forbidden City and Tian'an Men and got hustled.

I'm giving up vegetarianism, at least until I return to the United States, but I'm still going to eat kosher. This is something I've been thinking of for a while and truth be told I'm ashamed to tell you all about it, because I see it as a piece of my integrity pulling away. But I have horrible dieting habits, there's not much here in the way of vegetarian alternatives unless I want to cook every single meal myself, and vegetarianism doesn't necessarily benefit the animals I want to be helping by not eating. And there's the factor that every time we go out to eat, I get the feeling that everyone is pissed off at me for making them order extra dishes (even when I say that I'll eat around stuff). This will, of course, still happen with kosher dining, but I hope less often. And there will be less chance of me being completely forgotten when the group orders the food without me, as sometimes happens.

blah blah blah bitch bitch bitch

Love you all,
-me



in reference to the subject: it occurred to me, as we were ascending a steep incline without handrails or guardrails or GUARDS for miles and miles to be seen, and without good footing, that I was a girl who spends most of her time in front of a computer and that I was climbing a rotting military installation that was built on top of a mountain ridge. And that struck me as kind of stupid. And I let my friends know, but they kindly didn't throw me off. <3 you guys!

P.S.
hulamoth@yahoo.com is again working but IJ instant comment alert is not. What?

My yahoo e-mail address, hulamoth@yahoo.com, no longer works.

Hopefully this is a temporary glitch but I'm not holding my breath as
1) my other yahoo e-mail works fine
2) one of my friends complained that her e-mail is no longer accessible since she moved here

THE MYSTERY CONTINUES

this is still a huge cramp in my style, as I used that one e-mail for a lot I mean a lot of my personal business transactions.

So now, if you'd like to reach me, please use this e-mail:
quantitative_metathesis@yahoo.com

News reports tell of a severe earthquake in central China with tremors felt as far away as Shanghai, where I'm at. I have to say that were it not for said news reports, I myself would not have known. I'm okay: that's all I needed to say.

inspired by veleda_k's hobby of posting poems, this is one I've wanted to share for a while:
1979-09-12
Charles Bukowski

trouble
I had my camera and I took a shot through
the shop window
and a rather tall ugly lady
neck bent forward
ran out of the shop.

"whart are you doing?"
she asked,
"what did you photograph?"

"I photographed the naked manikin,"
I told her.

"I'd rather you didn't take any more
photos," she said.

"all right," I said and I walked down
the street with my camera
with her staring after me.

I felt guilty and upset even though
I had done nothing really
improper.
it usually happened to me
at least once a day.

I turned, dropped to one knee,
focused, and photographed her.
she waved her arms and screamed
and I shot her again.

the trouble with these people is
that their cities have never been
bombed and their mothers have never
been told to shut up.

Helloooo! For once, I'm following through on a promise! Nevermind that it stokes my ego to do so.

Japan pictures! Only a few, granted, but I'm a pretty poor photographer so half of them are shaky/out of focus/poorly composed, etc. Unfortunately I failed miserable at getting any good mountain shots, despite the wealth of lovely peaks and valleys (all of which made me wish I were back in Colorado, but hey, I was happy. I'm a mountain girl)
http://www.spmanga.com/images/Asia/Japan.html
http://www.spmanga.com/images/Asia/Japan_2.html


Regarding postcards: yes, the offer still stands. I will send anyone - anyone on my Friends List, that is - a postcard if they so desire it, but they must send me, via e-mail, their mailing address, because I can't promise that those addresses will be safe in the comments pages.

hulamoth@yahoo.com

Ciao, mes belles!

Leaving for Osaka tomorrow morning, will be back in Shanghai on the 12th. Very likely I will not have internet access while I am away, and if I do, it's going to go towards me checking my school business. Not that I don't love you all immensely, it's just a matter of urgency.

If you don't hear from me in two weeks, feed my fish.