It's Elinora

Happy Birthday keswindhover

It's birthday time for Kes today
We wish her joy and time to play
And if she wants to have her cake
We even know the kind to make
It's gluten free, no cheese, no eggs
No curry sauce, no chicken legs
No butter icing or mushy peas
Not a thing from honey bees
There's lobster tail, and Parma ham
There might be bits of rhubarb jam
There's a little dash of turmeric
And ginger beer to make it stick
Nothing there to make her ill
But if she won't eat it then we sure will
'Cause she's a zillion miles away
and we're not there on her birthday



http://missmurchison.livejournal.com/435780.html

The latest (2007) version of Mansfield Park.

( I never though I would look at the 1999 version fondly, but this version has accomplished the impossible. )

So I'm at Starbucks this morning, and when I leave I have a drink in one hand and a binder in the other hand. When I get to the door I don't have a free hand, so I put my shoulder against it an push gently. Unfortunately there was a chivalric gentleman behind me who decided to leap to my aid and open the door for me.

But since I was leaning on the door, when he pushed it open farther I simply followed it and fell over. Into the the stainless steel Starbucks Dog Dish on the ground outside.

He was very apologetic, and I instinctively saved my frappuchino, but they will have to fill the dish up with water again.

Also, a very happy birthday to my darling missmurchison. I worked very hard on our wedding invitainon,which you can see at keswindhover's journal here

P.s. While I was writing this, I got a phone call from a man in El Salvador looking for "Ernesto". I told him there was no Ernesto here, and he apologized polietly and said "I will see you around then." Does this mean we have a date?

Since I am jobless, I thought the best thing to do would be to spend my severance pay on a vacation. So I'm off to England for two weeks to visit my family, and also my lovely fiancéekeswindhover, who will kindly let me stay in her garden shed with the hedgehog. We will be going to Westminster Abbey to check on availability for our wedding, which sadly cannot occur until our co-fiancéemissmurchison can join us. But at least I can get a good look at the place, and decide how many flowers we will need.

We plan to do many exciting things, such as seek out all the decent book stores in the South of England, sample the pastries at various tea shops, and weep piteously at the foot of Jane Austen's grave.

A Happy Birthday to keswindhover and flaming_muse

It is their birthdays, which is cause for celebration.

If I were at all capable, I would Crochet a Dalek for each of them.

Happy Birthday gobi_rex !!!

Only Gobi will know why this is here, so the rest of you have my permission to be utterly confused.

Bonkable Legalialus
Hermione/Snape/Dumbledore
Warning: Has no pictures whatsoever...

( Bonkable Legalialus )

.

Please be aware that I do not want to be spoiled for the end of Harry Potter. You must also keep in mind that I don't bother reading the books, I only watch the movies. Therefore, it will be necessary that you don't mention anything that happens in the book for the next 2 or 3 years, or however long it takes for the last movie to be made.

I promise to watch it in the opening week, and you can say what you like after that...

:)

Happy Birthday dualbunny!!!!!!!

I am in no way planning to run over to JouralFen or GreatestJournal just yet, mostly because the idea of re-designing my layout is too too scary. But several years ago I registered so I could lay claim to the moniker Elinora. Sadly, I wasn't fast enough for Vox or a few of the other ones, and someone else got it. Sigh. I should have been XXXElinora23880!!. Anyway, at those two places I am Me.

And on that note: Dear person who has a real-life name ALMOST identical to mine. Let's call you Elinoraa. And who has a GMail address ALMOST identical to mine. It was bad enough when your friends started sending me their resumes, but now that your intended has started sending me mushy poetry, it really, really, must stop. I am already engaged to missmurchison (with whom I am officially 102% compatible) and the wonderful keswindhover, and only they are allowed to write me mushy poems.

If I get any more poetry, I will start critiquing it and sending it back with red marks all over it.

This past Saturday the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) aired a 10 minute segment on Fanfiction. I've uploaded the segment (snipped from the podcast) here, in case anyone wants to hear it.

The Interviewee claimed that 97% of FF writers were women. The host was also surprised to find out about the massive amounts of slash (yes, they talk about it) written by women, for women. I can't say I agree with all of it, but it was interesting to hear the perspective of people who knew very little about it.


They don't mention anything about the Whendonverse specifically, but the intro is "What do you do when a television show just ends, and leaves you standing out in the rain heartbroken and alone..." Which made me think of Angel, and made me sad.

Anyway, here it is.

Show: Definitely Not the Opera
Host: Sook-Yin Lee
Guest: Clare Lawlor

DNTO - Fanfiction 10 Min. 7 MB. MP3

Okay, so you're in the car showroom with all the shiny cars, and you think a sun-roof would be really cool, especially since you live north of the 49th parallel and are not in a position to commit to a convertible year round, and you say What the heck, I'll take one of those sun-roof thingys, I mean it's not as good as a convertible, but when the temperature goes south of minus 40 degrees I will at least be able to drive around in it, and in the summer I can stretch my arms up as high as I want to.

And then you go home with said car, and one day you park it out back and leave the sun-roof open, and when you come back to your car the following conversation occurs:

Elinora:  OMG!  Is that a freaking squirrel on my dashboard.
Friend:   Did you leave your sun-roof open.  Idiot.

Then there is an interlude in which your car doors are opened and closed in various sequences, and then all left wide open while the squirrel in question decides he has moved up the world and really doesn't want to leave, even when a yummy trail of peanuts are strewn along the path down to the tree.  And after awhile it seems the only way to remove the rodent is to actually pelt him with the peanuts, some of which he shells and eats before finally taking the hint and scurrying away.  And then you spend half an hour cleaning peanuts and squirrel hair off your upholstery.

Just be warned, okay....

In excited news, Thank You to whomever nominated my Spuffy story That's Amore in the Love's Last Glimpse awards. There are lots of stories there, go read them all.

In geeky news, my tax return was enough to get a new computer and wide flat screen monitor. I suppose I should have paid my credit card, but I was getting tired of waiting 20 minutes for Photoshop to open.

In accident news, the insurance company decided $10,000.00+ was just toooo much damage to fix, so I am now the proud owner of a new Honda Civic, complete with multiple side airbags. It took a full three weeks before the black eyes went away, which were the cause of many a comment while out and about. The most common accusation was that I had had a face lift, frequently but not frequently enough followed by the declaration that I really hadn't needed one.

In sad news, my poor little Toyota is still locked up in some horrid compound, and the chances of me getting my CDs back seems more and more remote. I don't really want the poorly re-folded maps or crumbled granola bars, but I think I had a Cadbury's Dairy Milk in the glove compartment. The next time I am loaded into an ambulance, I shall make them get all my valuables out of the car first. But i have to admit they rescued my iPod, which is certainly worth more than the chocolate bar, which is probably melted by now anyway.

In good news, my rental car was covered totally. And the rental people were extra nice, even when I returned it to a different location than I rented it at, and accidentally parked it in one of the reserved (numbered) spots at the Casino, and they had to run out and stop it from being towed away by the over-zealous and obviously paid-by-the-car Casino Parking Lot Police. Which I think was really the rental people's fault anyway, for having a car rental place in a casino with numbered stalls which look just like the numbered stalls the rental car place has. Also, while I was waiting for the clerk to come back from rescuing the car I won $26.00 on a slot machine, which paid for lunch for my mom and me. Yay!

Am I the only one who like's LJ's Valentine theme?

Thanks to missmurchison and keswindhover for the virtual pressies, and to gobi_rex and everyone who sent me a valentine card. My cat presented me with a chocolate rose, which I ate during American Idol, so all in all I considered the day a success.

My luck continued to bloom on the good side, as I was able to leave the New York and Chicago airports mere hours before they started cancelling all the flights, saving me from yet another night camped out on the floor of a major North American airpot. When people tell me my job must be very exciting becuae I travel a lot, I just laugh at them.

Stories You Must Read

missmurchison has written a lovely Spuffy Valentine treat.
devilpiglet has started another Spuffy story, this one with an intriguing dark twist.

hoegh has tagged me.  I don't like to tag, so I'll just list these here.

Write a journal entry with six random facts about yourself. Then, pick six of your friends list and tag them - no tag backs. These rules should be included in your entry.

1.   When I was quite young my family moved a lot, and in third grade I attended four different schools.  Every school had the same third-grade reader, and every time I got to a new school they were just starting to read the same stupid story about a wildebeest named Samba.  By the fourth school I was very tired of Samba, although I received a special commendation for my very accurate map of Africa.  I mean, I'd drawn the darn thing four times already, it was bloody perfect.

2.   Art was always my favorite subject, and most teachers made mention of my bold and interesting use of colour.  When I was 22 I attempted to join the military.  They rejected me, after vision tests revealed I had a bizarre form of colour-blindness that made me see colours in a way other people did not.  So I wasn't really bold and interesting, just odd.

3.   I didn't learn to drive until I was in my late 20's. 

4.   I travel a great deal, and always go out of my way to be extra super nice and sweet to the people at the ticket counter.  As a result, I get free upgrades to first-class on a regular basis. Niceness rules.

5.    If you are rude to me, your case goes to the bottom of the pile.  Maybe even under the desk.

6.   I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up, but if Hollywood shows an interest I will certainly consider the option.  I think I will write screenplays, if the movie-star thing doesn't work out. 

Fiction Post ( Apologies for the double spam to those on the Seasonal Spuffy list)

Title:  Rhyme
Rating:  Very tame.  One teensy violent act that is immeditaly regretted, and Giles is quite rude to Spike.
Pairing:  Spike/Buffy 
Timeline:  During Chosen/Post NFA
Beta:  I'm sure this would have recieved a lovely beta, except that I finished it an hour before I had to post it.  All boo-boos are mine.

This is a link to the post on the Seasonal Spuffy site, so please take the time to read all the wonderful stories there.

Rhyme - By Elinora

In sad news, my domain is down, as I apparently neglected to pay for it.  Imagine that!  They only sent me three hundred emails about it, but I guess I forgot to read them.  The said I can have it back, but I think I want a new name anyway.  And now I am off to experience the wonderfulness of numerous American airports, and won't be back till Monday.

( Veronica Mars Comments (Spoilers for 3x02) )

Happy Birthday Miss Murchison!


See...extra big font becuase I love you so much!

I've spent the better part of the last month on the road, so I'm terribly behind in reading good stories, leaving thoughtful yet amusing comments, and following kerfuffles.  I hope you all noticed (especially you, missmurchison ) that I waved as I flew over.

My schedule was a bit like this…

Elinoraville
New Jersey (multiple cities)
New York City - Manhattan
New Jersey (multiple cities)
New York City – Unknown part, but I could see Manhattan in the background.
New Jersey (multiple cities)
Chicago
Cleveland
Chicago
Elinoraville (2 days)
Cincinnati
Kentucky
New Jersey (multiple cities)
New York – Manhattan
New Jersey (multiple cities)
Chicago
Elinoraville

Part of the trip was a bit of a trial, since Elinoraville has no expressways or tollbooths, and New Jersey is positively littered in them.  I am not accustomed to looking for exits and off-ramps, and I'm afraid I missed a lot of them the first few days. 

I refused point-blank to drive in Manhattan, since I lack that third hand (which all the locals seem to have) that you need to constantly pound on the horn. 

While I was there I was forcibly dragged into an alley and forced to pay $20 for a handbag with a Prada emblem on the front although the label inside says Made in China, so it may not be totally authentically authentic.  I'm sure no-one in Elinoraville will notice the difference.

On the Boo-Hiss side, since I was booking a lot of one-way trips, often just hours before the flight left, I received Extra Special Attention at every security checkpoint I encountered.  On the bonus side, I know have enough air miles and hotel points to take a free vacation, although I think I am leaning towards staying at home…

Sorry to double-spam those on the Seasonal Spuffy list, but this is my new story.

Title:      That's Amore
Pairing:  Spike/Buffy  
Author:  </a></b></a>elinora
Rating:  Quite tame, except that I use the word smelly. 
Disclaimer:  Yes, I stole these characters.

Note:  Dedicated to the divine </a></b></a>missmurchison , the wonderful </a></b></a>keswindhover  and the lovely </a></b></a>dualbunny, all of whom leave me in awe of their talents.
Beta'd by Trixipoo

The scene, when replayed in her mind, usually went a little bit more like this:

My icon is courtesy of the dearest missmurchison and keswindhover, both of whom sent me Valentine gifts. I cleverly combined them, so I wouldn't have to choose.

For your desktop....Apollo and Starbuck.

It was just luck of the draw, really, that these two ended up finished first. I'm also working on a picture with Laura Roslin, and I think she'd be much better for Apollo, being an older woman and all.

So here they are...

Most of the background collage pinched from NASA. Starbuck has a heron down near the bottom, I don't know why, I just liked it there. The star charts are (so I am told) of the general Earth area. the disk in the background is not actually a frisbee, but a disk stuck on the wall of the ship.


Apollo 1080x724

Starbuck 1080x724