Garage sale cometh.

Also, in other news, I did a bit of a flist trim. Some defunct journals, some un-updated journals, and some comms. Slowly pulling away from more things HP.

Still interested. Just not like before, you know?

Okay, back to the basement.

AAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Your Yuletide Stories Of The Day for Thursday, July 9, 2009 are:

Luck of the Irish
Fandom: Burn Notice
Written by Ishafel for Lexie
The Irish job is a risky one.

What Maketh the Man
Fandom: Georgette Heyer - Cotillion
Written by Valderys for meretricula
Soon after their engagement, Freddy takes Kitty shopping to finally buy her the rubies he's wanted so long to bestow on her. The commonplace becomes a little more than that, when they run into Jack Westruther patronising the same shop.

Cawroboree
Fandom: Sons of Anarchy
Written by Queue for Vicky Ocean
Gemma's mind is a dangerous place.

En Pointe
Fandom: Princess Tutu
Written by TL for Paceus
Post-canon: Rue and the problem with 'happily ever after'.

Tea and Tannenbaum
Fandom: Dorothy L Sayers - Lord Peter Wimsey series
Written by Niamh St. George for EleanorJane
Peter is soon off to Christmas at Duke's Denver, and then to Walbeach for New Year's. after a chance meeting with one Miss Vane, of course.

Willkommen
Fandom: Cabaret (1972)
Written by emiime for kenaz
In here, life is beautiful.

Nor the Battle to the Strong
Fandom: Gone With The Wind (movie)
Written by kangeiko for Maidenjedi
The Tarletons go to war.

The Teddy Bear and the Itty-Bitty, or, How Olive's Persistence Finally Paid Off
Fandom: Pushing Daisies
Written by Grevling for threeguesses
Emerson Cod likes money. He likes cold, hard cash: in his hands, in the bank, or stuffed under his mattress in his hand-knitted money cozy. In fact, he likes money more than anything else in the world.

I Should Assume It's Still Unsteady
Fandom: How I Met Your Mother
Written by Lix for zelempa
In which Robin thinks eventually can be put off forever, and other people know better than she does.

Stories from the most recent Yuletide challenge are posted in order of when they were uploaded. Please comment on the stories if you read and enjoy!

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The following New Year Resolutions stories were also posted:

Into Light
Fandom: Lost Odyssey
Written by Dawn for Sandlion
Through the looking glass, and what Seth found there; how saving one world isn't enough after all.

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Your Random Unfilled Request Of The Day:

Recipient: treneka
Request: Lois McMaster Bujold - Vorkosigan series (Lord Ivan Vorpatril)
Details: He'd always been so careful, but he'd also been drinking more lately. Ivan finds a baby on his doorstep.

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Your Random Older Story Of The Day:

Teach Me
Fandom: Elfquest
Written by Kat for Lilith in the New Year Resolutions 2006 challenge.
Venka teaches Tyleet a thing or two about herself. set during Kings of the Broken Wheel



Note: comments are not e-mailed; please comment on an admin post to reach the Yuletide mods!

oh, god. 1 week till I leave for Azkatraz. I'm not ready!!!!!

*runs around in a state of panic*

Just saw these absolutely gorgeous bone folders- for bookbinding-adds to my wishlist

today was another day where i felt like i was moving through molasses. and not in a lazy, sweet way, but in a omg-am-i-never-going-to-be-able-to-finish-anything? kind of way. so, um, we won't talk about that.

first off, i hope the lovely oldenuf2nb had a wonderful birthday. her writings and drawings make the world a brighter place. one of my other favourite writers has a birthday tomorrow, rurounihime. i'm beyond chuffed that i may actually get to meet her at azkatraz. alsoalso, the lovely fungus_files is turning another year older as well. happiest of birthdays to three wonderful ladies.

second, i saw merlin for the first time. let's just say that even though i am not filled with the desire to write or read merlin!fic yet, i can see what all the fuss is about. fortunately i am not enough of a history buff to be bothered by the inaccuracies, and it is full of Teh Pretteh. also, why did no one tell me that it has king watcher giles? he makes me smile even when he's being a butthead. [*grins*]

third, i forgot to tell you that i got 3 pairs of trousers (one full length and two capri length) and a top at goodwill for less than $25 for all four last sunday. i wore one pair today and they work fine (yes i realise most people don't have to test drive their trousers, but most people don't have ostomies).

fourth, sytycd. omg, so fabulous. i'm going to be so sad to see them all repaired. well all except two who are being dumped tomorrow. ouch. we all know how i feel about the idea of phillip going, and to tell the truth i could see evan go and not shed a tear. i'd really like to see jason dance with someone else though and see what happens. of the ladies? i like them all. guess i'd be least sad about kayla. i really would like to see jeanine get a chance to dance with someone besides phillip, but i think that's a given. randi, too.

I am finally out of peaches. Final count:

Plain peaches preserved in light syrup: 5 quart jars and 8 pint jars
Peach jam: 6 half pint jars
Peach-Pineapple jam: 7 half-pint jars
Peach-Strawberry jam: 1 pint and 6 half-pint jars (one of which contains a whole strawberry that came from MY OWN STRAWBERRY PLANT OMG)
Fruit Punch jam (my own creation-- a blend of peach, pineapple, strawberry & nectarine and btw, I tasted this and it's beautiful): 1 pint and 10 half-pint jars
Peach Honey (much akin to syrup, made from the skins of the fallen peaches): 2 half pints

TOTAL: 5 quarts, 10 pints and 21 half pints of AWESOME.

...I am exhausted. Also, WTF am I going to do with 15.25 quarts of peach product? :P OOPS.

Ooops, went back to finish some DEs I left lingering. Although I did say it was just going to 10, apparently, I needed a couple more to finish off this thing for Azkatraz Art Gallery. So I've expanded and here's Yaxley. Prolly, not what you were expecting but I wanted....a forboding person.

So. I've looked over my system. Turns out the power supply is strangely situated at the base of the unit (check it out) and it's a pain to get out and it's thin. So I can't replace it easily.

I've purchased an ATI Radeo HD2600 Pro 512 MB DDR2, which says it needs 400 watts to operate. It'll be delivered tomorrow.

ETA: Looks like it's a VisionTek model, and it needs 300 watts.

The system's power supply is rated at 460 watts.

I've seen someone on the forums who apparently is running a similar card, with no worries. Most people, though, seem to be suggesting that a separate power supply is necessary.

( My system specs )

So what do you think? Should I hazard putting in the card and hooking it in to the main power supply? Or should I get the card its own separate power supply and just rig it out of the case? Thoughts would be incredibly appreciated.

"...during an early round doubles match, Amelie Mauresmo whipped out a can of hairspray during one of the changeovers. While Svetlana Kuznetsova sprayed her hair with it, Amelie brushed it. As Alison of Amherest, N.Y., put it: 'It was a little odd watching two Grand Slam winners play beauty shop on court. But the umpire didn't seem to mind.'" IF THIS WERE A BETTER WORLD THIS WOULD BE ON YOUTUBE. (also, Jon Wertheim needs to straighten on his modifiers. who was brushing whose hair? inquiring minds want to know!)

(from Novak's presser after the Madrid semi-final) "Actually, right after the match, Carlos Moya… came up to me and said that it has been the best three‑set match that he watched on this surface ever. So I think that’s a big compliment from a big champion as he is." again - if only someone had YouTubed this. I wonder if Rafa was hovering in the background like an anxious teenager introducing his gf to his parents?

two awesome things in one!

I need for Nole's girl posse (Ana + JJ) to be real. for serious, I love that he's this obnoxious showoff boy and he manages to actually be friends with women. (Ana, JJ, Masha? HOT women.) but also? he needs to wear glasses all the time. like, to tennis matches. I would totally watch tennis matches if Nole wore glasses while he played.

more serious thoughts - I wonder if there's a tennis-related version of Stockholm Syndrome? where you love a person who repeatedly grinds your face in the dirt. because I honestly do think that Andy Roddick likes Federer better than he likes Nadal, and vice versa for Nole. but then again Rafa has ridiculous gooey eyes for Fed even when he destroys him, while Fed gets totally grumpy when Rafa wins too often, so maybe it's just that Andy likes Fed and Nole likes Rafa. (why is there no fic about Rafa slowly realizing that Nole isn't actually a douchebag, he's just a ridiculous kid with a great sense of humor and no sense of propriety? there was totally tension in earlier years, and now they're all giggly co-VP BFF. fandom, I am looking at you.)

wrap-up thoughts: Dinara Safina speaks fluent Spanish! that cutie. Nando better keep his mitts off, that's all I'm saying. I don't follow any of the female Spanish players, though, so it's kind of useless as far as tin-hatted shipping goes. (I would pay money to see her go on a date with David Ferrer, just for the height differential. she's such an adorable awkward giant!)

ok, bedtime, for serious. hopefully Torchwood tomorrow!

In other news, I was pre-approved for a home loan, and I have a meeting with a realtor tomorrow. :) I wish I'd thought of this earlier, seeing as how I still have to find an apartment in between. UGH. I wish my mommy lived in SD. I'd have somewhere to stay for a few months while the house is sorted AND a motivation to GTFO after just a few days. BRILLIANT. :P

Also, the internet taught me to can peaches, which was awesome, since we took about 40 pounds of the most beautiful, ripe, luscious, goldenpink ripe peaches off of a peach tree across the street in the backyard of a vacant house. FORTY. And there are about 15 more sitting around waiting to be ripe enough for us to pick (I'm guessing this weekend). We ended up with five quart jars and eight pint jars of preserved peaches, six pint jars of peach jam, two pint jars of peach honey and a huge tupperware of peeled peaches in the fridge that I am about to turn into peach-pineapple and peach-strawberry jam. it was sort of a lot of messy work, but damn, dog. It was cheap, awesome, really very satisfying labor, and it turned out shelves full of food where I know *EXACTLY* where it came from and what's in it, and! They're pretty. And we stood around in the kitchen listening to BB King, Eric Clapton, Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead while we did it. Seriously, for how modern and badass I am and whatnot, every domestic art I learn is just as awesome as the last. WHO WANTS TO TEACH ME TO KNIT?! WHOA. I gotta draw the line somewhere. :P


How did we find the peach tree you ask? Well, see there was a branch overhanging the concrete wall separating the yard the tree is in with the yard of the *other* vacant house across the street. You know-- the one with the pool that The Kid, Oz and I crashed on Sunday. :P That one. (speaking of awesome)

As I posted earlier, I took my nephew to Trillium War last week. He had a blast. While driving there, he said to me,"Will you take me to another war after this?" So keen. When I asked him if he had a medieval name he was going to use, he said, " SIr Laurence" but was quite disappointed when I told him he had to earn his knighthood!

Here he is throwing axes- wow a bullseye- he hit it several times from the adult distance!


This is boffer- youth combat. His foe is very experienced, but Laurence was able to kill him twice.
( more fighting under the cut )

With the five episodes over five days format, an interesting little fic genre has cropped up - the most ephemeral sort of fic you can have, really. Because any post-episode fic will be jossed within twenty-four hours, and yet people are writing it anyway. I think it's kinda sweet.

( Spoilers for Day Two and Speculation for Day Three )

So my monitor has degraded to the point that it looks like I'm about to fall into the world of Tron. Pink lines, crazy blocks, dots and moving green masses. At other points it looks like the Matrix exploded.

I bought a card from Dell, one of those suggested: an ATI Radeon HD2600 PRO 512 MB DDR2. And now I'm really worried that the power supply for my computer will be insufficient. According to specs online, I have a 460 watt power supply. The specs for the card require a 400 watt power supply. I can't quite wrap my brain around any of this; I'm trying to figure out if my existing power cord will work with it or not.

Website friend is coming over tonight, ostensibly to check out the sale, and he might get tortured about power supply specifics. And pressed into service to move boxes. Poor guy!

Anyway, Dell claimed that it would take 2-3 days for me to receive it, and then when I got the shipping confirmation email, it claimed a delivery date of the 17th. Uh, fail. Today there is a "rescheduled" date of tomorrow, which makes a lot more sense.

So. I've finished sweeping the garage. You would NOT believe how much crud there was. Hulled birdseed was everywhere along one wall. The metal and plastic racks were completely covered with dust and cobwebs. I cleaned some of it off, but they really require a good soaking on the lawn. Yeah, that bad.

( Little more about the garage sale )

Hey, ever wondered the hows and whys of making and selling sketchbooks at cons or some such. Stuart Ng has a lot of tips. Enjoy!


Keep in mind its all about the pictures

If you want to encourage casual buyers and maximize your sales, keep the price as low as possible. I believe $5 to $10 is generally the best price for a standard photocopied sketchbook.

A $5 sketchbook will sell many more copies than a $10 sketchbook by the same artist.

Sketchbooks do not need to be too thick or too big. It should be at least 16 pages and 24-28 pages is typical. Put in your best work and leave your audience wanting more! (Keeping the book small also helps keep your printing cost down.)
You want to encourage looks by putting a good image on the cover. I always discourage "concept" covers (a text-only cover, a cover with a childish crayon drawing, etc.).

Standard formats are good. 5.5" x 8.5", 7" x 8.5", or 8.5" x 11" are some standard page sizes. These sizes use standard paper sizes and avoid excessive trims. Avoid oversize page sizes. Any format over 8.5" x 11" becomes unwieldy.

Avoid comb-bindings, wire-bindings, and other unusual bindings (such as rings, ties, etc.).

Do not print the price on the book. This frees you to raise or lower the price depending upon demand (or lack of it).
Most artists include a variety of material in their sketchbooks, but if you have a clear strength you may well want to focus on that. several sketchbooks have focused exclusively on animals. Derek Thompson's Derekmonster Annuals are made up entirely of creature designs.

Do not believe you have to include drawings of women to have a successful sketchbook!

Don't overprint. We see very nice sketchbooks with print runs of 100, 200, 250 or 500 copies. Once you are printing 500 copies, the price of additional copies goes down exponentially, so it is tempting to add another 500. Don't do it if you don't need them!
There has been a proliferation of full-color hardcover sketchbooks produced in the last few years. The typical minimum print run on books of this type is 1000 copies. A number of these books have sold out their print runs (many by "name" artists such as Frank Cho, Phil Noto, and Sean Galloway, but several by previously "unknown" artists such as Jose Lopez and Ruben Martinez). However many have not sold as well as expected.

Consider how you will sell the book. Consider the number of convention appearances you will make to sell the book. Consider whether you are willing to receive and process mail orders and want to make the book available for online sales via your website or blog or eBay. Consider whether you will wholesale the book to stores. Let that inform your decision of how many to print.

Your Yuletide Stories Of The Day for Wednesday, July 8, 2009 are:

The Last Word
Fandom: Merlin UK (tv)
Written by Greensilver for bedlamsbard
The moments just before death have become something passed back and forth between them over the years.

Better Hemispheres
Fandom: Lisa A Barnett and Melissa Scott - Point series
Written by KindKit for iambler
Of maps and what they mean. Philip/Nico, set in the spring after Point of Dreams.

The Double Date Causation
Fandom: The Big Bang Theory
Written by Keenir for Brie CS
It's not so much the fact that Leonard's plan for a double date backfires, as it brings Sheldon and Penny together just a bit more.

Friends and Family
Fandom: Bedrooms and Hallways
Written by sarren for Linaerys
"Family isn't about whose blood you have. It's about who you care about."

Keeper of Names
Fandom: Tin Man (2007)
Written by Yuletide Fairy for niqaeli
"By the time I'm done with you," Azkadellia murmured sweetly in his ear, her fingers clenched, tangled in his hair, "you won't remember your own name, let alone anyone else's."

Like Castles In Air
Fandom: He-Man Universe (cartoon)
Written by calapine for Leyenn
Glimmer, Adora, changes in the season.

With the Poor and Nosy
Fandom: The Philadelphia Story
Written by Mosca for Raggedy_edge
There is an interloper in C. K. Dexter Haven's gazebo. Rumor has it, he's writing a novel.

Five Times Faiza Hussain Meets a Superhero
Fandom: Captain Britain and MI: 13
Written by Muccamukk for lenija
Featuring characters from Captain Britain, New Excalibur, Wisdom, and Captain Britain and MI:13. Rated for profanity, violence and Pete Wisdom.

Turning
Fandom: Cabaret (1972)
Written by Fyre for kenaz
What is a man to do when his world is turned on its head?

Stories from the most recent Yuletide challenge are posted in order of when they were uploaded. Please comment on the stories if you read and enjoy!

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Your Random Unfilled Request Of The Day:

Recipient: Sealgirl
Request: Blue Dragon (game) (Jiro/Kluke/Shu)
Details: Please, please, please, for the love of all that is great and good, give me closure! Kluke and Jiro, or Kluke and Shu, I do not care! But please make her choose ONE of them.

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Your Random Older Story Of The Day:

Let's Not Talk About It And Say We Did
Fandom: ReGenesis
Written by Miriam Heddy for heuradys in the Yuletide 2006 challenge.
Over the years, David had observed that there were some conversations you just couldn't avoid. And somehow, Bob was responsible for nearly all of them.



Note: comments are not e-mailed; please comment on an admin post to reach the Yuletide mods!