Friends

I've rarely done this in the past, but I'm seeing it going around again this year so ... why not? :)

Step One:

• Make a post (public, friendslocked, filtered... whatever you're comfortable with) to your journal. The post should contain your list of 10 unlimited holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fandom-related ("I'd love a Snape/Hermione icon that's just for me") to medium ("I wish for _____ on DVD") to really big ("All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.") The important thing is to make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.
• If you wish for real life things (not fics or icons), make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it's your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.
• Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your journal, so that the holiday joy will spread.

Step Two:

• Surf around your friendslist (or friendsfriends, or just random journals) to see who has posted their list. And now here's the important part:
• If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true. Sometimes someone's trash is another's treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don't want or a gift certificate you won't use--or even know where you could get someone's dream purebred Basset Hound for free--do it.
• You needn't spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out; it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday elf--to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not--it's your call.
  * There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just... wish, and it might come true. Give and you might receive. And you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.

( My list )

Another set of two--I definitely can't keep doing only two a day!--but I have to work early tomorrow, so my usual crazy writing time is taken up with that irritating interruption of, you know, sleeping...

a Sirius apologizing to Hagrid for judging him, and maybe they beginning to get along as friends? or at least sirius respecting him? in terms of timeline maybe order of phoenix. hagrid having to drop something over the headquarters for Alex Wells
( Appearances )

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so i can ask for fifth year Romilda buying that Patented day dreaming Product of the weasley twins and daydreaming in class? and oh! at some point make McGonagall abruptly wake her up for * Betthany anne
( Daggers, Ogres, and Probably Detention )

Day 14 → A non-fictional book

I just started reading this book yesterday, but I am already enjoying the hell out of it: The Accidental Buddhist by Dinty W. Moore. (I do not know if that is his given name, or if it's just a nickname he got stuck with as a child, but if it's his given name, his parents are a special kind of sadist and it's no wonder he stumbled into Buddhism.)

I picked it up because I've been reading about Buddhism lately, but there are different types and it's all pretty confusing and complex (as religions tend to be) and I figured that reading about another Westerner stumbling through the learning process would make me feel better about my own confusion. Turns out that it really does help; a lot of his reactions to some of the teachings have been the same as mine, and his sense of humor about the whole thing makes for a quick, entertaining read. I'm also learning quite a bit about Buddhism in the process, mainly that I just need to relax about it (my biggest struggle in life) and not worry so much. I suppose it wouldn't interest you unless you already had an interest in Buddhism, but if you do, I recommend it.

( 30 Day Meme )

In other news, my fabric has arrived from the fantastic Denver Fabrics! Yayayayay. Not the same as browsing in the store, of course, but it's better than being stuck with Joann as my only fabric source. Fucking Joann. Having said that, I dragged my mom to Joann this afternoon to partake of their current $1.99 McCall's pattern sale, and to pick up thread and buttons for my jacket. This weekend will be spent sewing, needless to say. I imagine there will also be swearing at some point.

LiveJournal: The First Decade

Just in time for holiday shopping, we're thrilled to announce the release of our ten-year anniversary anthology. Published by Blurb.com, the book showcases a decade of extraordinary talent drawn from LiveJournal users around the world. This must-read compilation features stories, memes, photos, comics, editorials, graphic content, and more, including:

1. Excerpts from Oh No They Didn't (a/k/a ohnotheydidnt), the largest community on LiveJournal, covering celebrity gossip, entertainment news, and pop culture
2. A look at post-Katrina New Orleans from the journal of Poppy Z. Brite
3. Gripping narratives, including a poignant reverie on a blind date
4. Photography that spans the globe, ranging from old-fashioned Polaroids to underwater photography
5. Mouthwatering dishes from food_porn

What began as a late-night inspiration back in Brad Fitzpatrick's college dorm in 1999 has grown to encompass nearly 25 million users worldwide, with journals and communities covering every conceivable hobby, passion, and topic. To get your copy, please visit the Blurb Bookstore. For updates and entries from book contributors, please join lj_turns10.

Tweaks and enhancements

• You can now ban a user from all of your communities and journals at once. To access this feature, hover over the person's userpic and choose Ban user everywhere from the drop-down menu.
• Follow LiveJournal on Twitter!

Give a little to help a lot!

In honor of National AIDS Awareness month, we've added a new charitable vgift. For each red ribbon you purchase for $2.99, we'll donate 100 percent of gross proceeds to IAVI.org (the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative) to support the development and global distribution of an affordable HIV vaccine (we'll cover credit card fees). You can read more about IAVI at lj_cares. While we're on the subject, we raised $740 from our November fundraiser for Love Without Boundaries, which supports emergency healthcare and adoption of Chinese orphans. We thank you for helping us help others.

Photos of the week

We're back with more incredible pictures from our super-talented LiveJournal photographers. Congratulations to ilya_gorokhov, who is the winner of our very first lj_photophile poll.

We hope you'll continue to post, vote, and comment! A gentle request: Please post only one photo at a time and limit size to 350x350 (so images display properly on friends pages). And now, without further ado, get ready to cast your ballot and view more awesome user content after the jump!

( Read more... )

Curtains

Thanks, again, for joining us. Stay safe and snug out there!

Introducing: a month of Bill Lee recs!

Rec Category: Bill Lee
Pairing: none
Categories: Bill Lee, gen, humor, episode related
Warnings: none
Author on LJ: ziparumpazoo
Author's Website: master fic list
Link: Giant Plant-like Thing in the Night

Why This Must Be Read: Ziparumpazoo does an amazing job with Bill's mental voice as he tries to fall asleep the night after Zero Hour. Perfect characterization and delightful humor is coupled with just a little wince at the realization that yes, even the "normal" scientists that work on the SGC have to deal with the insanely bizarre on a regular basis!

Short, sweet, and slightly zany: the perfect ficlet for Bill!


Bill blew out a sigh. This was silly. He'd been offworld dozens of times. Ok, not dozens. A few. Twice, actually.

Title: All I Want For Christmas (Two Front Teeth)
Fandom: Supernatural
Pairing: Dean/Castiel

PG for language.

Written for bauble's Dean/Castiel Holiday Cheer Meme.

( 970 words )

Posting access has been granted for December. Please post a comment here if you should have access , have been confirmed in the reccers post, and find you do not.

Thank you and happy reccing!

Only two today, because I have to do some re-reading... seems I've forgotten something that I need to remember before I can write the next one on the list. If anyone can give me a hint of where Sirius gives a snap judgment of Hagrid, I'd appreciate it! I'm drawing a blank, and googling has been unhelpful.


can I ask for one where Dumbledore is playing Chess with mcGonagall? old timer best friends bickering and all

that?... can this be Before Harry is born? for martha
( The Long Game )

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Teddy has tea with the Malfoys. for thornyrose
( Between Me and My Conscience )

So yeah, I'm one of the folks who've had a love-hate affair with "House" over the years, but they got me back HARD last season. But last night two nights ago (yeah, I'm a new mom: sue me!) was just--!!!

( Spoilers for House 609: Wilson )

**EDIT Thu Dec 3 23:24:15 UTC 2009 **

Hey Everyone, we are about to run the last alter job that we need to on our database servers. This will effect userpics / scrapbook / vgift images for the next few hours. Have no fear, your images aren't lost, there is just a really intensive process running on the servers which store the information for mogilefs. Thank you for your understanding and all the LJ love...

Hey LJers,

I just wanted to let you all know that we are going to be performing some mogilefs maintenance over the next few days. We will be upgrading our current version to latest stable as well as changing some db config information to better handle the amount of files we are currently hosting. This shouldn't cause a big impact on site stability, but you may see some minor delays with userpic / scrapbook images appearing or other requests associated with our mogilefs. We would love to not have that happen, but unfortunately with some of the steps we need to take we have to cause a delay with images. I figured this was a better solution than taking down all of LiveJournal because well lets face it, we all need our daily LJ fix ;)

Thanks,

There's an SGA gen hurt/comfort holiday commentfic thing going an sgahcchallenges, in case gen h/c is your crack of choice (as it is most definitely mine). *g*

Hey, Dresden Files people on my flist ... did anyone read the Harry story in Many Bloody Returns? I will shamefacedly admit that I bought the whole anthology just for that one story ... but I think it was worth it! ( Spoilers )

Today's offering is a little multicultural Christmas song, courtesy of Guster:

Donde Esta Santa Claus?

It's good times. And in the interest of not spamming you with multiple posts in one day, I will take care of that 30 day meme business as well:

Day 13 → A fictional book

Currently I am reading A House to Let by Charles Dickens et al. It's a novella written collaboratively with Wilkie Collins, Adelaide Anne Procter, and Elizabeth Gaskell. Originally published in 1858, it tells the story of an empty house and a woman's quest to uncover the mystery of the house by exploring the stories of its previous tenants. So it's sort of a mystery, but mostly it's just interesting to see how four different writers melded their styles together to tell one cohesive tale.

I'm enjoying it, at any rate. It's a quick read for a rainy afternoon. Not that I have had an entire afternoon to curl up and read in...years, probably. But if I did, this is a book I would choose.*

( 30 Day Meme )

And that's all I know. I fear I may be catching the cold that's been going around both work and my sister's house. My niece has been sneezing all over everyone since Thanksgiving, so I'll be shocked if I manage to dodge this particular bullet.** If I feel this bad tomorrow I am staying home.
_____________________________________________________________
* I wish with all my might that I was curled up in a chair in that inviting little cabin in my icon right now. Alas, I am stuck at work, and I can't even go home sick because I have like four hours to serve on the desk today because everybody else is fucking off for a lunch hour program and leaving me to cover the desk. Not that I'm feeling sorry for myself or anything.
** I am using my current scratchy throat/run down feeling as an excuse for my bad mood, but I have a feeling it's got more to do with my own self-image issues. I'm working on it.

---

Dudley's POV reading the Quibbler article about Harry. for malinbe
( A Tough Little Git )

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If you'll humour me anyway, I'd like something original to celebrate the season? for amamama
( Ghost Town )

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can I ask something with the patil twins post hogwarts? and if you could fit in Seamus finnigan there too for abby
( Paris v. Death )

In a few very short days, I will be posting an ADMIN post that will explain all the new changes in format. We will also be presenting the list for categories that will be moving to the 'other' category and any new ones that may be coming around.

At that point in time, we will also be adding a couple new 'rules'. Nothing extremely major, but please be on the lookout.

I would also like to send out a reminder about waiting until the last day or two of the month to post all your recs. It's not just one person doing it; it's more than one. So we're talking about two things: 1. We flood people's flists with recs instead of spreading them out over a month. You have 30 days (except in Feb), USE THEM ALL to post recs, not just the last day of the month. I'm asking nicely, but people have been complaining... so please, help me out. 2. It's easier on my volunteers (especially people doing memories) if they actually have the entire month to put entries into Memories. You wait until the end of the month; they have 1 or 2 days to put all the recs in Memories so that the people taking over the next month know what stories were rec'ced the month before. So please DON'T WAIT. Thank you!


Character

skinscript-- John Sheppard
kazbaby-- Cameron Mitchell
sg_fignewton-- Bill Lee
gunhilda-- Samantha Carter
sailorsueuk-- Daniel Jackson

Friendship

tejas-- Daniel Jackson and Jack O'Neill
sg_fignewton-- Teal'c and Samantha Carter
friendshipper-- John Sheppard and Rodney McKay
sg_fignewton-- Daniel Jackson and Samantha Carter

Genre

tejas-- Humor
skinscript-- Alternate Universe

Pairing

lilyleia78-- John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
hoperomantic-- John Sheppard/Elizabeth Weir
cynic2022-- Carson Beckett/John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
kathgrr-- Cameron Mitchell/Jack O'Neill
oxfordshoes2-- Janet Fraiser/Samantha Carter
tejas-- Daniel Jackson/Jack O'Neill

Day 12 → Whatever tickles your fancy

What tickles my fancy today is a little fic. Technically this was written as a gift ficlet, but I handed it in a few weeks ago and haven't heard anything about delivery, so I am going to go ahead and post it here. The person it was written for doesn't read my journal (or know me from Adam, for that matter), so it probably doesn't matter.

It's a little Sky High thing I wrote as a prize for one of the Kink Bingo winners, so it has kink in (sort of) but it's PG.

( Not Even Prose, Will/Warren, PG )

( 30 Day Meme )

And if you missed day one of the Advent calendar, it's here.

so, I seem to be making a Mythbusters bdsm/kink vid.

is that, uh, is that a rational thing to be doing? I seem to have lost all perspective. ALL OF IT.

and why does this feel different than writing porn about Sean Bean and Cate Blanchett?

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