Distracted By Something Shiny

I'm not sure how much I will get done off of this month's checklist, because so much of my time is being taken up by funeral stuff and trying to help my sister as much as I can, but I will try to do a little at least. The funeral is next Saturday, but that won't be the end of the stuff we need done, especially since Sis is volunteering to do the house clean out at the farm, along with my cousin. One room at a time, sorting and cleaning. She had her first day today and it was mostly doing dishes and laundry and basic cleaning that needed done.

Anyway, here are the things I got done for July and August...

( July stuffs! )

( August stuffs! )

Anyways, I think it's okay if I take a break this month!

I am sad and happy. Happy because I GOT MY NEW IPAD!! It's rose gold and so pretty, I keep stroking it. And it is way lighter and smaller, but with the same screen size so I can still see. And I got a new art pencil to go with it, which I adore. And a protective screen this time - no seven different cracks in the screen and protection from my droppy hands. Plus 128 gb, when my last one had 13. I finally have room to update and my apps work again and it is glorious. I've named her Lewis, after Dr. Susan Lewis, as she will care for me when I'm sick.

( More under the cut. )

I did a photo shoot with them in some of my favorite outfits and as soon as I'm ready, I'll put them to bed one last time.

I haven't really been posting my word counts this year, mostly because they have been so dismal and also because I keep track of that stuff on my desktop and I swear, I barely turn that thing on anymore, especially now that I have my fancy new IPad keyboard. But I have been keeping track, so I figured now is a good time to post the first 6 months of word counts.

Here we go! ( January - June, under the cut. )

It's only about a quarter of my yearly goal - which is 100k - so not that great, but maybe I can make up for it in the second half of the year, now that I am getting used to juggling my new spoon-level better. That whole 'write everyday, even if it's just 100 words' thing I tried in May didn't really work. Maybe I should try again.

It has taken me two years since The BFF initially suggested it to me, but I have finally gotten an AO3 account. I was hesitant because I have issues with being too spread out in my fandom life, having my fic in more than one place. It's a control issue. I know I didn't have it back in my early days of fandom, when everything was on Yahoo groups and this archive and that website, etc. My fics were spread out everywhere back then. In those days though, I was on the drugs and that made my control issues less of a deal than they are now. Since then, like I was looking for good Firefly fic to read that hit the sweet spot I wanted, and the place I was searching recommended my own story to me! I didn't even remember ever having put anything in that archive! So after letting the suggestion sit for two years - omg - I finally did it. I am just slowly loading my fic on there, a few a week. So far I just have three fics up - a Misha/Mike-Jared/Jensen fic, a Puckerman-centric Glee fic & a Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert fic. I will be uploading in the order that I posted to LJ, until I get all caught up.

I also started a side tumblr, as a place to vent about a lot of the day to day of the disability. I mean, I vent about the big stuff here and also updates on my health, but I wanted a place to just randomly complain about the little things. Like, why do people think my wheelchair is a coat rack? Or why do businesses put their handicap parking spots way down away from the building? Sure, the ramp is down there for wheelchair people, but wheelchairs aren't the only kind of disability. What about those of us who struggle with walking farther than we have too? Things like that and reblogs and submissions of the same kind. And helpful things like adaptive equipment and stuff. Tumblr is the first place I ever heard the words 'ableists' and ableism', so I figured it was a good place to reach others who would like a blog like this and maybe benefit from it. At least we can be 'like'-ing things in solidarity.

Anyways, here is where I am now on the Internets...
My Livejournal - Dodger_Sister.
My Fandom Tumblr - Dodger-Sister.
My Disabilities Tumblr - Disableism.
My AO3 Account - Dodger_Sister.

Friend me/Follow me wherever you like!

If you have the Netflix app, you will notice how when you sign in, it will say right at the top..."Continue Watching"...and have your most recent watched things available for you to just click on. Like if you stop a movie halfway through and want to finish it later or if you are watching a TV series, it will load up the next episode for you so you don't lose your place. So, unless it's a movie that you watch all the way to the credits, your most recently watched shows will be right there for you to keep going. Which is nifty. It also means that my sister and I can see what the other one has been watching, since we never divided our accounts. A month ago, I went scrolling through the things it back-holds, just curiously, to see what was there.

Here's what we were watching a month ago on Netflix:

Raising Hope, Queer As Folk, Ultimate Spiderman, Scrubs, Orange Is The New Black, What Not To Wear, Law & Order: SVU, The Boondocks, Confessions: Animal Hoarding & Lilyhammer.

I was looking through it again last week, looking for the SVU to let run while I was falling asleep - (this may have something to do with some of the odd dreams I have, huh?) - so here is what we are watching on Netflix now:

Numb3rs, Queer As Folk, Parks and Recreation, Parenthood, Malcolm In The Middle, House MD, Law & Order: SVU & Call The Midwife.

Basically, what I'm saying here, is I love streaming TV on Netflix. Netflix is amazing.

Question #1: How is this my life? My Teen Wolf fic writing started with this gen fic that I knew upfront was going to be like 20k. But I got stalled out and thought, “That’s okay, I’ll go write some shorter fics to get into the fandom with, so I just don’t throw a 20k gen fic into the void.” I wrote this 4k humor/romance fic that turned out just like I wanted, all good; that 2k piece that I posted a few days ago that was meant to be a NC-17 kink-ish PWP, which you can see, didn’t quite work out, but also turned out all good. (maybe there's something in the Teen Wolf water that makes one all soft. I mean - at least the last time I was there - their kink_meme seemed to prompt schmoop the way the SPN kink_meme prompts non-con knotting genderswap. Not that there’s anything wrong with that). Then there is the story I have been working on for months now, in starts and stops. The one that was meant to be 6k and is now up over 10,000 words and they have only just had their first kiss. Three more scenes to go before they kiss again and another three before they have a makeout session. And the thing is, I’m not going any higher than handjobs in this fic - (maybe, possibly, blowjobs). So I am about to turn out like 25k on a fic that doesn’t even have any full-on sex in it! I ask you again…how is this my life?

Question #2: On a more serious note - who has an IPad? Do you know how to download video to it using something other than ITunes? My sister took a bunch of video of the kids while my brother was home visiting and edited it together. We want to show it to my grandparents but Grandpa has a hard time with the smaller screens, so I want to put it on the IPad. I know how to download using ITunes and how to take a video with my camera app and watch it on my photo-roll, but I can’t seem to download from a dl link or a youtube link (using the 'keepit' software). Is there a way to get a video onto your photo/camera roll from an outside source?

Question #3: This is for my SPN brethren and contains mega-spoilers for Season 8, so…( I’ll put it under a cut. ) I guess the fact that I am writing a post-S8 fic means that I am excited about the show again? Because I never thought I would write anything post-S5 and yet, here I am!

I love my IPad. No longer do I have to decide: lay on the couch or get on the computer, get into bed for the night or get on the computer, sit on the porch or get on the computer. I can do all of those things, just bring my IPad with me, and it makes keeping up on LJ and my writing so much easier. Which means I get a shit-ton done everyday.

Yesterday, I watched the ballgame, talked on the phone with The Nephew (during innings 4-6), read 50 pages in my book, played some Wii, made a post, messed around with my icons, caught up on my Flist, wrote 1400 words, replied to a few emails, watched an episode of Southland, Teen Wolf & Switched At Birth. In one day! It probably helps that the sun is shining and the weather is perfect, which causes my energy levels to soar.

Then today I started watching the Batman dvds The Nephew loaned me and then my sister was home for the afternoon (since she had to take my mom to the dentist in the morning) and we ran errands, some of which I have been trying to get done for the last two months, like buying shoes. My dad gave me some money and sometimes I feel bad because he can get confused and then he writes me a check ‘to help out‘ and Idek. I mean, my dad can afford it, but still. So I used the money to help with things that my sister couldn't afford because she had to pay for my mom's dog to get his teeth cleaned and for my mom's new dentures. So I picked us up a new wading pool (way bigger than our others were), two new lawn chairs, a present for The Canadian Nephew's birthday (a Sit ‘n Spin - who remembers those?) and a new pair of shoes (they are purple and awesome!). I also spent today writing a letter to The Nephew (which I am going to try to do more over the summer) and found a day camp for him to go to while he is visiting us over his vacation - (hopefully I can still get him in). And I watched The Daily Show and an episode of that new show ‘The Fosters’, and made this post, and now I am off to edit my latest fic, put away my laundry, open the packages that came for my sister's birthday (ssshhh!) and watch the last half of the ballgame.

Holy shit, now I feel tired just typing that list out.

In other news, I finally changed my default icon from the one The BFF set up when she made this journal for me. My default icon is now one of my favorite shots of Alison Lohman, in which she looks enough like me to be a little freaky. She is even wearing one of my shirts! I'd been meaning to change this out for months now and I've finally gotten around to it.

I had some TV thoughts and stories about The Nephew & CO, but this all seems like enough for the moment. I'm just going to have to start posting more often, maybe, to keep up with All The Things.

What would you do if the internet ceased to exist tomorrow?

How do you think that would affect this modern technology age we live in? What would you miss the most about the internet?

( It Was A Dream That Was Kind Of A Nightmare. )

So apparently what my subconscious thinks I would miss the most is all of you! /cue awww-ing from the crowd/ I have to agree with that, though I would also miss fanfic but even in my dream, I wouldn't say that to my grandmother.

On the upside, the US postal service wouldn't be going out of business.