Happy birthday and turkey, to me!

[gwyn]

Every seven or eight years I get the doubleheader of having my birthday fall on Thanksgiving day, which is my favorite holiday. Whee! After early dinner with my dad at his retirement center, then I get to go up and have another dinner with friends, and J is making me the cake from heaven -- a coconut cake recipe from the Williams Sonoma catalog that is so dense and rich and divine that it is indescribable by a mere mortal.

And to celebrate (or maybe not, I had no beta reader for this, so it could be horrible, I don't know) my holiday, I posted a new Spike/Buffy story at my web site, http://www.drizzle.com/~gwyneth/stories/living.html called The Living. Just in case anyone's interested. (It's kinda dark and smutty.)

Things I'm thankful for:
My Evil Twin sister, who will never forget my birthday since it's hers, too.

That my dad is still healthy and living well in his new place.

That I still have a couple friends left in this world, and for friends who move here from other cities and surprisingly, still talk to me.

For the bitkahs, even the ones who despise me. ;-)

For hottie English vampires and Watchers and the adorable California girl they love, sexy lawmen of the Old West, surly FBI directors and spooky agents, and British secret agents.

For turkeys who give their lives so that we may sit around in a tryptophan coma after eating them.

For songvids and new shows and old fandoms and that rare good fanfic that makes you feel like it's worth it.

For the LJ community -- I never thought I'd want to do this, was worried about the whole "look at me" thing and the danger of wannabe BNFness, but this has turned out to be such a wonderful place where I've made so many positive new connections and had so many interesting discussions. I'm surprised every day, and that's a good thing.

For my horrible, run down, expensive house, but at least it's mine.

And most of all for the alien face-hugger, psychotic, violent, adorable bitch cat from hell, Emma, who makes my life worth living...

Comments

[merryish.livejournal.com]

One of the friends who moved here from another city, just dropping by to say:

I'm in charge of salad, right? So T had to drop some stuff off for Lynn about her new place of employment and took me to the grocery store for the makings of salad. We ran into J and her Lyn downstairs. They were heading to the grocery store for some kind of pan thingy.

We followed them to Central Market, where my short trip for lettuce and tomatoes turned into an hour-long restocking of my entire apartment. This isn't entirely unexpected -- I have guestage, and also haven't shopped in ages. However, when T and I got back out to the car?

J's car was still there.

I begin to fear the amount of food this holiday is going to involve...

[umbo.livejournal.com]

Excellent job on the story.

There's another person in the world with your birthday--caught a baby yesterday, a boy, 6# 4 oz, a lovely birth.

And I'm glad you're on LJ, and that I discovered you through one of my LJ friends, because your Buffy reviews are great.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Excellent job on the story.

Oh, thanks! I was kind of worried because I've had such a hard time getting betas for my S/B stories -- and poor Merry's had to bear the brunt of it, but there was too much on her plate to ask her this time, so I more nervous than average that I'd done something horrid.

There's another person in the world with your birthday--caught a baby yesterday, a boy, 6# 4 oz, a lovely birth. And I'm glad you're on LJ, and that I discovered you through one of my LJ friends, because your Buffy reviews are great.

I guess being a midwife you never do get to have a "holiday" if the baby decides that's the day it's coming, do you? But hey, I was 6# 4 oz, too! Wow, weird coincidence! (And can you imagine, twins at that size? Ugh!)

I'm enjoying the LJ thing so much more than I ever expected. I love skating around through friends' friends pages and finding new people to add (although I haven't done that in a while and need to add some more people), and reading all the things people have to say about stuff I'm watching (or not watching, I try to keep up on the shows my pals are interested in). It's the perfect place for a blabbermouth analytical hyper-critical anal retentive fanwanker like me!˙

[sweet-ali.livejournal.com]

Thank you so for such a beautiful story. Again and again, in your stories, you have this great ability in capturing Spike's inner thoughts with such humor and pain at the same time. His final acceptance, his final complacence, that this girl he loved was gone, that he had lost her along the way, "The girl who'd ask a vampire to kill her, just because he loved her. The girl who hides from her friends and family because she wishes they weren't even there anymore. The girl who sucks love and life inside her like a black hole, absorbing it until nothing's left, and gives out nothing in ", it was just...devastating. It really was wonderfully done. The scene by the ocean, the final slip of hands in the last scene... I still feel them.

I was kind of worried because I've had such a hard time getting betas for my S/B stories

Hey, if you are ever in a bind like this time, I'd be happy to beta read for you. I've become a great admirer of your work ever since I discovered "Somniloquy" over at Crumbling Walls, and it would be a pleasure

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I may just take you up on that! Poor Merry's been saddled with all the beta responsibility, and it hasn't worked out with others -- I usually try to get at least two editors whacking on me over a story. And I do expect people to be hard on me -- I'm an editor in real life, so it kind of goes with my territory. ;-)

Thanks for the kind comments!!