Hello, dears! I have a request for those of you that like to follow world events online.
See, I do subscribe to various news sources online...um, lessee if I can remember them all: bbcnewsworld, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Economist, Foreign Affairs Magazine...I think that's it. My thing, though, is that many of these are based in the US, which while that is good for domestic affairs, can present a biased perspective of global events. I have to admit, the American media tends to focus only on how things affect us, rather than the global impact.

So, my request. I was hoping that any of you who follow the news online could point me to reliable news agencies based outside of the US? I'd really like to start reading articles that show different perspectives from the ones that I have been getting (although I do <3 The Economist (Thank you, Cal, for introducing me to it!!!)).

Any suggestions?

Feel free to take these...there is the one with the message only, and then there is the one with the Eddie Izzard quote as well. *g* And also, you can link back to my original post regarding this day if you so desire.

I put the coding under each banner for the few of you still unfamiliar with LJ and html-type stuff.

( two banners for Worldwide LJ Commenting Day )

My roommate got sick because her boyfriend was sick, and now I am sick too. Oh, spite! Oh, hell! Oh, my head and throat! Woe.

Now, quickly quickly a link before bed.

A picture by hashie (aka jereeza's fanart journal) that reminds me of the fact that Bellatrix Lestrange's first name starts with 'bella.'

Bella, bella, bellissima.

Oh, also! *clears throat*
When the little Bluebird / Who has never said a word / Starts to sing (Spring)
When the little Bluebell / At the bottom of the dell / Starts to ring (Ding dong Ding dong)
When the little blue clerk / In the middle of his work / Starts a tune to the moon up above
It is nature that is all / Simply telling us to fall in love
That's why birds do it, bees do it, / Even educated fleas do it! / Let's do it, let's fall in love!

A punked-out version for your auditory enjoyment...Joan Jett, I think.

And now, bed. Mmmmmbed.

swtalmnd, here's your drabble-turned-ficlet, finally! It got a bit out of hand (although I'm still claiming that as your fault...8 secondary characters, really! *g*)...

Title: Mirror, Mirror
Rating: PG13
Pairing(s): Sirius/Remus/Snape, Harry/Draco, Fred/George
Summary: Mirror, mirror, on the wall...
Notes: Oh, oh! I have to thank anise_anise for offering to beta for me, and for doing a lovely job of it. Thank you, dear!
Wordcount: 718

( When he first found this room... )

1. swtalmnd, I know I said you'd have your drabble today, but it sorta...well, it got away from me and turned into 725 words, and I'd kinda like someone to look it over before posting it.

2. So, yes, I'm putting out a call for a real-quick lookover person for a ficlet. I really just want someone to tell me if it all makes the sense that it did in my head or not.

3. Yes, this does mean that I am still working on everyone's drabble requests. I meant to get a few written last night, but I kept getting distracted by fics such as:

• The Intricacies of Expectation, a NC17 Snape/Harry fic featuring highly dubious consent (muchly so, so be warned if you are sensitive to this in any way), bondage, and a few other dirty and incredibly hot kinks that push my buttons very neatly. Mmmm, mindfuck. *pushes kinky portion of flist in that direction*


• Cascade, a BtVS NC17 Wesley/Giles fic that the author describes as "freaking long," and she is right. This is a very big fic; it took me two hours to get through it, but it was worth it. gilascave, aka Gila, is one of the few authors that I'd trust enough to read any pairing she wrote, and that includes this one...I have never read this pairing before in my life. Now, I really want to read more. This story is wonderful, and it doesn't hurt that the sex scenes are OMG so hot. *g*

4. Lookit my banner!


5. Lastly, is anyone else's LJ picture album thing not working, or did I just break mine? 'Cause I'd like to put my banner on there...as a matter of fact, I did before, but now I cannot get to the album itself to mess with it. Currently, I'm using prurient_badger's image source, but I'd like to fix that ASAP, because even though I know next to nothing about technology, I have the vague feeling that that isn't kosher (erm, but it's photobucket at least, which I think is better than an actual website domain owned by her?)? Help!!! *says the little technology-illiterate girlchild* (although, technically, the term wouldn't be illiterate, because that actually presumes something about me being unable to read...is there a term for it, then? I guess just 'unknowledgeable'...)

Have you ever written a story and then been utterly dejected and discouraged by the lack of comments?
Have you meticulously crafted a detailed post, and then been disappointed by the lukewarm response?
Do you just wish that people would drop in and say hello more?

Well, here is your temporary solution!

I, with support from the lovely prurient_badger, am declaring January 31st Worldwide Livejournal Commenting Day

Imagine a day where everyone made the effort to comment on at least 15 LJ entries, posts that they were normally just too scared, or shy, or busy to bother with normally. Think of how fun that would be, of how good all the comments in your mailbox would feel.
ETA:Banner!

Really quickly, before I go to bed (early, because I need sleep because OMG I have had an eye twitch since SUNDAY because I need sleep liek whoa. See, I make no sense in my rambling.)...where was this post going?

Oh, yes, linkage! Non-fandom, but funny! metaquotes is generally good at teh humor, but this post in particular, comments especially, has totally cracked my shit up. Yay for bad puns!

And now, I'm off to sleep, with my pillow-hogging kitten (how is it that a cat that weighs 5 pounds and is still absolutely tiny can manage to take over my entire pillow and scrunch me into a corner of the bed by the time the night is barely half-over? Meh.).
*crawls into bed*

Guess what? My lj is a year old, tomorrow!

( click here if you would like to read my introspections on the past year...with footnotes!! That you can click on!...and links (with commentary) to some of my fics and babbles )

I was chatting with sarky_moocow while messing with my icons, and I became curious as to something, which I am now going to ask you all.

What is your favorite icon:
-that you made?
-that someone else made but you use?
-that belongs to someone else, and you secretly covet every time you see it?

Comment here with links to the pretty iconses.

I'll get the ball rolling. The icon that I'm posting with was my default for a very long time, and has received a ton of love. I animated it, way back when I had software that'd do that, but the text is from a goats comic strip.

My current favorite icon that I use, but that was made by someone else is this one right here, from the ever-hilarious cleolinda's m15m of Phantom of the Opera. Because the phrase "trampslut whorebitch" is the most cleverest in the world, and amuses me unduly. *g*

I adore just about all of anise_anise's icons (but especially this one), because I have a...erm, Pavlovian reaction to them. *squirms in chair*
Also, tapedeck's icons, because omg the snark is so wonderfully snarky.

Here's another response to my drabble prompt poll.
ETA: I just added them all up...the four drabbles that I wrote today equal 1631 words. Meep.

This one is for gracefulfool. Her specifications were:
Secondary character(s): Draco
Pairing: Slash
Genre: Angst (and ohyes, this is angsty)

I dunno about this one...she didn't give me a prompt, so I was forced to try and came up with something of my own making...I hope that it's ok, anyways. *wibbles a bit*

Word count: 422

( click for the angsty drabble )

Here's another response to my drabble prompt poll, which everyone is still free to fill out. The theme of all the drabble so far seems to have been voyeurism. Shucks and darn the luck. *g*

This one is for snitchnip_chill. Her specifications were:
Secondary character(s): Ron, Fred-n-George
Other secondary character(s): Squid! or Dobby (I chose Dobby)
Pairing: Slash
Genre: Suprise me
Prompt: "It wasn't that he'd meant to do it"

Word count: 400

( click for the drabble )

Here's the next response to my drabble prompt poll, which everyone is still free to fill out.

This one is for florahart. Her specifications were:
Secondary character(s): Fred-n-George, Draco, Snape
Pairing: Slash
Genre: Fluff, Humor, Smut
Prompt: under water

Word count: 507 (so much for drabbles)

( the drabble )

Ah, drabbles, how I have missed thee! *is oh-so-happy to be writing again*

Here's the first of my responses to my drabble prompt poll, which everyone is still free to fill out. I'll be posting more of these as I write them.

This one is for irish_lily. Her specifications were:
Secondary character(s): Sirius, Remus
Other secondary character(s): Tonks
Pairing: Slash
Genre: Fluff, Humor, Smut (although I didn't work the smut in, woefully)
Prompt: Jazz

Wordcount: 302

( the drabble )

I feel like writing drabbles, and furthermore, I feel like letting you tell me what you'd like to see. So, here's a poll, so you don't have to actually go through the effort of commenting. *g*
ETA: Just realized that I forgot to specify: assume that Harry is the main character for all of these.
ETA also: I moved the poll under an lj cut, because I forgot how much room a poll takes up on the flist.
( Click here for the poll )

I am bored, dears, so I call out to you: Spam me!
Any random comment, observation, detail, rec, drabble, quote, bit of TMI, joke, or link that you feel like sharing would be absolutely and utterly appreciated.

Also, it's Friday Confessional, as well, so if you want to comment anonymously, go nuts. Relieve your shoulders of their weary burden.

Entertain me, dammit!!!! Pleeeease!

I'm finally getting it together to post links to my two challenge fics from the Christmas season (incredibly belated, I know).

First off, the one from the queerditch_pub remix challenge, written for the sweet purient_badger. Let me just say that I had the absolute hardest time writing this thing, but that I also consider it one of my best fics. I adore it, a fact which worries me, almost, because this story has- don't gasp- het. It is a lovely dark and twisty het, though, and the slash does weave its way through. This story is a perfect summation of my style of writing.
My summary for this fic was "things aren't always as they seem," but to encourage you to give it a try, here are lines that the few reviewers particularly liked: Daydreaming made her clumsy, there was never a time when her arms were without bruises

But he is awake one night, and shifts the draperies of his bed aside to see Harry at the desk. He is pressing at his lips while writing in a diary, and Ron has a moment to wonder where the diary came from before Harry looks up and catches his eyes.
The fic: Watching Her Watching Him

And now, for the slash. I wrote this fic for the sirry_slash secret santa challenge, and as such it is obviously Harry/Sirius. This fic...well, I'm pretty happy with it, but it didn't get any reviews...such is the life of a fanfic writer, lol. It has much of the lovely angst, as is my trademark, and features a wonderfully manipulative Sirius.

...it also features straps.
My summary: “I’m not going to tell you that I think this is right -- what Sirius is doing to you -- because that would be lying. So I’m going to try and tell you the truth."
The fic: Crossed Wires

So please, if you have a few minutes, give them a look over- they will be quick reads, neither over 2000 words, and I'd really love to see what you think of them.
*stumbles off to bed, content that she has finally made a fannishly contributive post once again*

ETA: My greatestjournal name is mary_re, feel free to friend.

Hey guys, just in case anyone somehow managed to miss this, I thought I'd post the link to the livejournal post where you can get your extra two weeks of paid account time (if you already had a paid account) because of the blackout.

It's right here.

You may now return to your normal fandom *coughcough*smut*cough* reading.

So!
Anyone on Y!M or AIM and wanna chat (er, also known as 'let Mary ping ideas/plot points for a fic off of them') for a bit? I'm trying to solidate the plot in my mind a bit, and want to bounce ideas around...

Or, ya know, we can talk about random things instead. Anything to avoid going to sleep, which would be the reasonable thing to do right now (what with school starting back up tomorrow).

Ooh, or you could rec songs for me to download!

Distract me, please!

ETA: English is the wierdest language. The sentence that made me think that: "All data have value." Data is the singular and plural, so it can be "the data has value," also. Crazy language. This random observation is brought to you courtesy of this New York Times article.

Skip=850 with a filter blocking all of the comms? NOT ON, people. OMG ded of no sleep. I cannot imagine what it would have been like without the great lj blackout of the past weekend, which I thankfully remained ignorant of (wheeeee!) until just this evening when I returned home, and it was already fixed.

So, I'll be skimming the flist, but if there is any post of yours from the past week or so that you'd really like me to see and/or comment on, feel free to comment here and link to it.

I've missed you all, and am glad to be back. I am over my illness of doom. I have also joined a certain comm that was very popular about a week ago, regarding the writing of certain epic fics before a certain book is released, so...I have been writing. And I've a few bunnies floating around for other ficlets, so yay!

<3 to you all, I'm off to bed. Mmmmmmsleep.

OMG this is taking forever...I'm putting songs on my iPod from my- admittedly gigantic- cd collection. I have 588 756 songs on my iPod already, and I'm not even near the halfway point. Sigh. But yes, I called for help regarding my little technology problem, and got it all fixed up, and am now happily going through my cds (omg so many!).

I'll have to make a music post later, to share some of the songs that I've come across that I love but haven't heard in forever.

For now, this post is to tell you all that I'm going to be around only sporadically for the next week. I managed to get a full week away from work, so I am going to visit my mom, and then my dad and step-mom! Finally! *glee*

I hope that the week goes wonderfully for everyone. Much adoration to you all.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

ETA: Lookit the icon I just made, for those posts that I just have to comment on in my adoration. *g*

I'm doing one more of the whole summing-up-someone-else's-flist posts, because...well, it's really quite fun.

( cut, because lj-cuts are niiiifty and beloved by all )

Hello, dears. I am surviving the illness of doom by sleeping for 15 hours a day and drinking tons of juice. But I have, after skimming the flist, given into the eeeevil of circe_tigana's flist swap...thing. Therefore, I'm going to be skimming adinaj69's flist, and she'll be lurking around mine, so if you see her in your journal, don't be alarmed. *g*

What I have observed so far:
( cut, because it's a bit lengthy, and lj-cuts=loff )

Well, goodnight, all! <3

ETA: Also!!! Help! I cannot disconnect my iPod from my computer! I try to disconnect it safely, and it gives me the message "The device 'Apple iPod USP Device' cannot be stopped right now. Try stopping the device again later." But that has been going on for over a day! I guess it's uploading my music library that I had saved on my computer to the iPod, but I'd sorta like to have my iPod back now! Anyone who can give any advice would be oh-so-greatly adored.

Am sick.

Have 'flu. Cannot concentrate to write or read properly. Will be avoiding anything that requires concentration until it stops making me nauseous.

I would give you all hugs, but I'm afraid of spreading the sickly germs of evil. I may not want to believe in them, but they do believe in me.

iPod not in yet. Woe. In other news, I am now able to tell you all officially about various fics I wrote for various challenges. Unfortunately, the very thought of hunting up links to everything tires me, so that will have to wait until I can get the energy up to do more than huddle in a ball and mindlessly watch dvds.

Which I'm off to do now. I rented De-Lovely, Garden State, and The Bourne Supremacy. Yay for movies.

Sorry if this post was incoherent. I am pretty much incoherent right now. Well, goodbye. *loves everyone from a safe distance*

*pokes* Am I too innocent to shag or something? Woe is me, I shall now sit in a corner sulking, crunching on sugar cubes that will not melt in my mouth. *is apparently as pure as the driven snow* *obviously needs to write more pr0n*

Oooh, also! *looks at clock* It's that day of the week again! And, even more fun, it's your laaaaaast time to confess before the new year! Yep, it's Friday Confessional, people!

If there is anything you feel like getting off of your shoulders, or even if there is something random that you would like to tell someone, feel free to comment, anonymously or not. I do not judge, I only accept. *g*

Oh My God. Eeee! New Domestic Piranhas, people!!! New! Shiny! Funny as hell! *adores*

In case you have been deprived of the utter hilarity that is the Domestic Piranhas series, here is a link to all of the parts. It features: Xander/Spike! Angel/Wesley/Gunn! A porn shop owned by a giant duck! Lots of hot smut! Accents! Much more!

*runs off to re-read*

Oh, I adore book_icons (in other words, this is a bit of a GIP). I took two tonight from there (the one I am posting with, and this one as well), and would like to take more but am trying to resist...there is a particularly lovely one of a girl looking out of a window that I adore, but I cannot think of any text right now that'd fit. Oh well, it'll come to me eventually.

Also, randomly, I was clearing my computer of unnecessary documents and stumbled across one that only had this: Actually, your pupil isn’t black. Your pupil is a hole in your eye with a lens over it. It’s the inside of your head that’s black.
I think that I had planned to make a post about it a long time ago, and then forgot. Yes, I am wierd for saving that.

Ok, dears, I'd like to exploit your knowledge about something...non-fandom, unfortunately (but I am writing some nice H/S, so there's the fandom for ya! *g*). So...I know that out of 111 of you, someone has to own an iPod. Has to.

My quandry: Well, I recieved an MP3 player for Christmas, but it...well, it's ok, but doesn't have nearly the memory capacity that I'd like, so I think I'm going to return it and use that money and my Christmas money to buy an iPod. The thing is, I'd like to know before I buy one just how to upload the songs onto it. The one thing that I did like about the MP3 player I received was that I could use Windows Media Player to upload the songs, which was easy because I already had the software and knew how to work it.

Is it difficult to figure out how to upload the songs onto an iPod? What software do you need? Those are my questions, and if you could answer either of them, or even just give your opinion of the iPod in general, that would be absolutely wonderful of you.

♥

ETA: Ok, I just heard about the whole battery thing with iPods, and...I dunno, that's pretty damn expensive. So...would you still recommend an iPod, even with the whole battery thing? And if not, do you know of any other MP3 players that have a lot of memory but not the whole bastid tricky no-replacement-battery thing going on?

ETA2: Hah! I've given in and bought one...online, as all the stores around me are sold out because of Christmas. It should be here sometime next week...yayayay!

OMGOMGOMGSNOW!!!!!

*is absolutely dead of excitement*

There hasn't been a white Christmas in my hometown since 1918. It hasn't snowed enough to stick to the ground since 1985.

Elated, me??? HELL YEAH!!! About two feet already, I swear, and OMG!!! *bounces with utter glee*
If you want to hear me squee, check out my phone post from earlier today when it first started snowing, because I was incredibly giddy then, as well.

And I know that this post was meaningless, and I'm sorry for that, but SNOW!!!

*wills you to follow her directions*

Your mission: Go right here, immediately, and join in the fun. amanuensis1 came up with this awesome idea, wherein you comment on her post with a line or two/a snippet of something that you would like to see repeated verbatim in HP and the Half-Blood Prince.

This kicks ass. If what some people are writing actually comes true, I'd be oh-so-very-very-happy.

Ok. I developed a theory a few years ago about the Beatles. My idea is that each person's favorite Beatles song reveals something about their personality (I haven't yet quite decided what, precisely, but it does reveal something, dammit! *g*). Everyone likes something different. For example, my favorite would probably be 'A Day in the Life,' while my mother's is 'Let it Be' and my step-mom's is 'Eleanor Rigby.'
I believe that these choices are telling, and I'd like to eventually take the time to analyse the lyrics and music in more depth, so as to better understand my theory. For right now I'll just settle for asking you all what your favorite song is. And if you'd like to add your thoughts about my idea, feel free to comment.

Also, the comment boxes allow 200 characters, so you can make your answers pretty long. Go wild.

Poll #407740 "I've got a theory..."
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

What is your favorite Beatles song?

Any reason in particular why?

Randomly, should I make another music post sometime soon?

Bonus Question: What is the next line from my poll's title?

To sum up the past two days that I was away from the beloved lj:

• skip=440 for 150 friends...o-0
• the OMG squee explosion of HBP and July 16th
• Spiteful and mean-spirited wank (if anyone wanks about me ever in one of these things, just don't tell me, ok? Because if no-one ever tells me, I won't see it, and will be able to blissfully go on believing that almost all people are essentially good-natured. Naive, I know, but so much better for the soul.)
• The sirry_slash secret santa fic that I wrote isn't up yet...woe. I want to see if anyone thinks it is any good! *wibbles*

Good enough. And now, because of the unhappy feelings that have been going around, I'm doing the pick 20 people meme that I gacked from setissima...under the cut for those of you who like your flist neat.

( 20 people from my flist...in alphabetical order )

Was that 20? *stumbles around blindly* Goodness, but that took some time! I'm off to bed, then! <3

380 500 600 720 910 1100 1275 1650. final #.

Almost done. Thank God. But I need a beta desperately. If anyone is going to still be up for a while, and would like to critique a Harry/Sirius ficlet, please please please ping me on AIM or Y!Messenger? Or, if you don't have either, you could comment here and I could post the ficlet for you...

Anyone? Bueller?

ETA: Thank you so much!

Hello dears, it's Friday Confessional time!!!

I realize that I haven't done this for a few Fridays, so feel free to make up for the weeks of secrets right now. Anything you want to confess, no matter the seriousness or utter inanity, is welcome here.

Anonymous comments are allowed, and IP logging is turned off (not that I'd know what to do with it, anyways...).

So confess! Go wild! And if you want an example of Friday Confessional, this is the most recent FC of the person I gacked this idea from.
<3

Heeeeelp meeee! Please?

I need someone who is on AIM or Y!Messenger to poke me for the next few hours and make me write this ficlet. Because I'm absolutely stuck, and I have to get it done omg.

If you want to talk about it and critique, that'd be even niftier. I have about 380 500 600 720 words, but I need it to be about 1000. Sigh.

ETA: I'm going to bed. Mmmmsleep.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't search around and look for the "coolest" book you can find. Do what's actually next to you.

"There are limits, however, to the potential effect of debates on both aggregate and individual-level outcomes." Thomas M. Holbrook, Do Campaigns Matter?
From my evil statistics class, which is thankfully over.

I know, I know, but I don't do memespam that often.

Now for the fandom stuff.

Ok. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to give me a word/words/a phrase that you associate with Harry/Sirius, or just Harry and Sirius, especially when in Grimmauld Place. I am going to write a ficlet tonight while doing laundry, and because the fic is shamefully late I would love any inspiration that I can get.

Dearling darlings?

Quick! What's the name of the UK flag?

ETA: God, that was fast. Thank you, scribbulus_ink, for enlightening me...I could not for the life of me recall its name! I knew there was a guy's name involved, but that was all I could think of.

Hmmm. I wonder where the name did come from. Does anyone have any idea?

Hmmmm, random fandom observations.

1. Isn't it odd when you assign an age grouping to a person from your flist, based purely on your perception of them, and then you are abruptly told or reminded of their true age? The internet is truly a great equilizer, and age- on the large- doesn't matter. But it can be odd, can't it, that sudden realization...

2. I wish that there was a fandom in which those from other countries wrote about America, and needed to ask cultural questions of Americans (ie hp_britglish in reverse). I would like to explain the oddities of Americans to those of other cultures, and perhaps make us not seem quite so batshit insane.

3. I always wonder if those I have friended that have a huge flist actually do see my posts, or if they are forced out of sheer lack of available time to filter me out occasionally. I really don't think I'd mind if they do, because even though I don't use filters because the guilt would poke at me, I could understand their necessity to some. Because some people are sweet enough to friend back everyone who friends them, even if they don't always have the time to read all the posts, simply because they don't want to make people feel bad about not being friended. So, if you are one of those people with gigantic flists and you happen to see this, much love to you.

More random observations later, but for now I go to study for Statistics. Sigh.

"Mary, why are you up at 3:52 in the morning? You need sleep!!!"
"Ahahahaha, you are wrong, my friend! I went to sleep at 3:30 in the post meridian, and only woke up an hour ago...that's right, 12 hours. Ahahaha..."
"Mary, why are you laughing so oddly? ...you're starting to worry me."
"OhMyGod too much sleep cannot focus too much to do cannot write woe. twitch. ooh, I wonder what is open at this hour, I should drive around..."
"...Mary, never get more than 9 hours of sleep at one time in your life, ever again. crackaddict."

Ah yes, truly, the re-elected George W. Bush is intensely concerned with uniting the strongly conflicted nation, only 1/2 of whom voted for him. He certainly wouldn't allow his base to introduce a bill "that would ban the use of state funds to purchase any books or other materials that "promote homosexuality"."

Of course he wouldn't. No...

And would a state Representative, one who has already met with the president five times, and is scheduled for a sixth appointment on Monday, ever offer up- to a question of what to do with such books as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Color Purple, which apparently promote "positive depictions of homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle"- the suggestion "dig a hole, and dump them in it."?

Never.

Poll #400321 Sorry, no ticky boxes today...
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Query: How many of you all, when you read a fic, picture Harry as Dan Radcliffe?

So, tell me what you see...

Now for the unfandom: Who else has to play catch-chase with their option for polling? I have to click on the 'update journal' button and race to click the polling button before it disappears about a second later. Any opinions?

Um, calliope14?

Also, GIP! Lookit what kimby77 made me!

Finals. Woe.

( My finals schedule )

In other news, I finally posted my queerditch_pub ficlet! I really really do like it, despite the het. Now, off to study. Blergh.