gwyn: (pete sdwolfpup)
Two Festivid recs, one from this year and one from last year:

Elevation (The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne)
Summary: You make me feel like I can fly.

I was genuinely surprised to see this microscopically small fandom on the list this year. If you enjoy steampunk and lots of great 19th century action stuff, I think you could watch this without necessarily knowing the fandom.

--

they're good dogs Brent [VID](We Rate Dogs) by [archiveofourown.org profile] bessyboo, [archiveofourown.org profile] Platinumvampyr
Summary: h*ckin good dogs.

I doubt there's anyone who didn't see this last year, but just in case, this celebrates the dogs of the We Rate Dogs twitter account, and it's adorable.
gwyn: (kirk iconziconz)
This year, I'm not doing Yuletide, and it feels really weird. It's the first time in a long long time I haven't signed up or nominated anything.

Partly it's because I have a book due at the end of November, and I know from experience that I won't be able to start on anything, really, until after that, and the pressure I always feel is tremendous--the past few years, the books have been really problematic and took every bit of my attention, plus there's my birthday in there, and other things that sometimes take time away from work. They're guidebooks, so the amount of detail is incredible that I have to pay attention to, and this publisher uses a really time-intensive and strange author querying system. The past few books I've done, the author hasn't been the one updating; they've all been updated by other people and inevitably they're someone who barely knows how to string words together and they never, ever check their facts.

But I think it's also that last year I had the best Yuletide ever, it was just so perfect: I had the chance to write two stories (both for Kings, feeding my SebStan obsession), my main one and one for destina that allowed me to write the story of my heart, which was just a fantastic experience, and then on top of that, I got THREE freaking wonderful stories (my squee post here). All adjacent to my current obsession of Captain America: one Political Animals-Cap crossover, an exquisite Kings story that was kind of my Kings dream come true, and a hilarious Losers-Cap crossover. So I sort of feel like I won the lottery last year, and I might never have that experience again (Yuletide has very, very often been less wonderful on the receiving front than the giving front, but fortunately I was in it for the giving part).

And also, I have this ginormous fucking Cap story I'm trying to finish because I have to devote my energy to the book now, so I need to post it, and then another one in the works, and a bunch more besides (I keep hoping that I am done with this. That I have tapped out my reserves and I can finally be finished with writing fic for this fandom, because it is really a study in feeling worthless and invisible, but no, ideas keep coming, fuck them), and I'd love to post fic on my birthday again, something I used to do every year but that stopped after sis_r died.

I think I will try to pick up a pinch hit (though I've never been able to), or do a treat, once the book's finished, we'll see. And I'm waffling on Festivids--I nominated some fandoms, and I would love to do it, but…then I think, maybe I should take a break for a year, too. I had kind of the same thing last year with vids, where I got my dream assigniment and made a Jack Benjamin vid for destina, and also got two amazing vids as gifts.) I just don't know. We'll see. Challenges are challenging.

Ah, the book has arrived. I'm tired already.
gwyn: (dean pelton)
Wow, you guys, I got two lovely Festivids this year!! Two!!

The first one is for the movie The Fall, which, if you know it, is an incredible visual treat, but what I love about the vid is that it focuses on the emotional core of the story, the relationship that develops between Roy (Lee Pace) and Alexandra. That's exactly what I had hoped for, so I'm thrilled. It's being hosted on Vimeo, so it's not embedded in the post, but click through the link and watch To Build a Home, it's lovely.

The second vid is for the movie What's Your Number?, which is as close to a guilty pleasure as I have (I generally don't believe in guilty pleasures, but this movie…there's so much stuff that makes me cringe, yet I love it). It's adorable and funny and sweet, exactly what I love about the movie, and since the song is I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked by Ida Maria, it's a perfect backdrop for the fact that Chris Evans spends a lot of time mostly unclothed--you can see why I might like the movie. ;-) Go watch my adorable treat What's Your Naked? and enjoy the manflesh.

What a holiday challenge season I'm having--three amazing stories for Yuletide and now two wonderful vids. I feel really blessed.

Cubs, maybe

Dec. 9th, 2014 01:14 pm
gwyn: (yuletide lights)
Finished writing my Yuletide story yesterday. So at least not bears, yet, but cubs, I guess…because this thing both sucks and blows, and it's huge, and I need to edit. But today is doing Christmas, so I won't have the time to get going on edits as quickly as I should. (For the first time in years I'm going to get a real live dead tree instead of my swingin' '60s turquoise tinsel tree.)

I wish I could have the time to write something else, but I have a feeling this will pretty much suck up all my time before it goes live. Who knows, though. Plus I'd love to get back to my Steve/Bucky dead-drop story.

But let us not speak of Festivids. I have the song, I have the source ripped, but starting on it is terrifying me. And it's going to be a hard one to make, to try to get the images I have in my mind onto the timeline and finessed.
gwyn: (bucky winter soldier)
Yay, we have fandoms in common! This makes me happy, and I will be super excited to get a vid in one of these fandoms we both love. Squee!!! My notes are pretty explanatory in most cases, but here's some information that hopefully you'll find helpful.

Music )

Fandoms:
The Fall )

Happy Endings )

Kings )

The Losers )

Political Animals )

What's Your Number? )
gwyn: (liz lemon go to there)
Well, the first of the Festivids recs, anyway. OK, so I kinda cheated a little bit because I knew that Festivids were going live today, and so I waited to do yesterday's rec today. ;-) I'm pretty sure it'll be vid recs from here on out.

Anyway, I'm barely into it yet, because today I needed to do some things outside the house and so I will be working my way through them for the next few days. I figured that my luck wouldn't hold three years running and I would get two vids again, and I was right, but the vid I did get is awesome and you should so totally watch it because it's a microscopically small fandom and I fear my vidder may not get enough love and also it is awesome as I said.

Title of vid: Look Into My Eyes
Fandom: Eyes of Laura Mars
Music: Look Into My Eyes by Janelle Monae
Summary: John Neville/Laura Mars. Look into my eyes, fall in love with me.

A while ago I caught the tail end of Eyes of Laura Mars on TV and I remembered how much I loved its beautiful late '70s cheese and glitz and glam, so I realized it HAD to be a Festivid. I also really loved the story of Laura Mars (Faye Dunaway), who is this Helmut Newton-like fashion photographer living the high life who starts to see visions of women being murdered through the eyes of the killer. Baby Tommy Lee Jones is the detective working on the case, who falls in love with her. There is a massive surprise ending of course, and the vid focuses on the love affair rather than the disco-era mirrorball fabulosity or the visions, but I confess I ADORE the love story so much that I didn't even notice. It's so much fun to see a vid to this movie, I hope maybe a few people might check it out and who knows, in the future, there could be more vids!

Seriously check out this fucking fabulosity:
eyes1
eyes 2

And my second rec, since I missed yesterday, is for Pride and Prejudice, and it's not even remotely like you'd expect.

Title of vid: By and by
Fandom: Pride and Prejudice (1995)
Music: Superfly by Curtis Mayfield
Summary: You're gonna make your fortune by and by.

I looked at the song and the fandom, and went, "the fuck?" and I clicked on it with extreme trepidation, especially when I saw that it looked like a Mr. Collins vid. OMG, it was so worth it. It's a hilarious look at the venal, idiotic, and ladder-climbing cousin of the Bennetts, and turns out to be just weirdly perfect for this miniseries.
gwyn: (born to run)
I'm sorry I'm so late with this letter. But here's the thing about me: it's all good. No, really. I've only been doing Festivids for a couple years, and in both those years I got wonderful vids that made me really happy, because someone made them for me me me, and it was fabulous. The fact that we share some fandoms and love vids is the very bestest thing ever, right there.

I am mostly pretty easy, as well, in terms of music. There's very little I don't like -- there are specific artists I don't like, but the only music genre I don't enjoy is modern jazz. Other than that you're good to go. Country your thing? That's cool! Hair metal your bag? I can be convinced! (I can also be very O.o about show tunes used in vids, but sometimes those work, too.) Whatever you think works well for the subject, that's what you should make.

I don't have a ton of stuff to add to my details for my requests, but here's what I can tell you:

Big Trouble in Little China, Case Histories, Charlie Jade, Eyes of Laura Mars, Happy Endings, MDs, The Unit )
gwyn: (jimmy stewart thesuthernangel)
Ugh, I hate this, I should be excited, but I don't know what to do about Yuletide and Festivids. They are both open for noms (not yummy noms, just nominations), but I have a big project coming up in October through November and I don't know how much time I'll have to write or vid. Last year I took off work -- I basically didn't accept any new projects for the entire of November and December, which I am wondering how much of an effect that had on my lower workload this year and less income. I finally heard back from one publisher this summer, but that was a long time and I worried that by turning down a project last winter, I had negatively affected my relationship with them.

Also, I have no fucking clue what to even nominate. I don't feel motivated by anything right now, except Pacific Rim, which is, you know, not going to fit in either of these challenges. I've been so disappointed by my fandoms this past year and it's left a bad taste in my mouth. I guess there are still some possibilities like Ripper Street and some of my oldies but goodies, but coming up with stories will be hard (less so for vids, I think).

What to do? what to do

Yesterday I skived off this giant book I'm proofing (it's awful, too, which doesn't help) and went to the Western Washington State Fair, commonly called the Puyallup Fair by locals. I loooooove the fair. But for the past couple years, every time I've been, the horse barns and cow barns have been closed. This is so frustrating. At least the draft horse barn was open, and I love looking at them, but man, I wanna see me some horsies and moo cows. A couple years ago [personal profile] belmanoir introduced me to mutton-busting, where little kids try to ride a running sheep for as long as they can, so adorable; this year we stumbled on the junior tractor pull, where little kids pedal a mini tractor with a heavy load behind it as far as they can -- it was super cute to see a little girl kicking all the little boys' asses. We also stumbled on camel rides -- and I wondered if that was a thing that's been around before? Because I've never seen it, and I really love camels, so I wanted to do it. But the antibiotics have left me in, shall we say, less than spectacular control of my bodily functions, so I figured I'd better not. ::shakes fist at sky and says in Khan voice:: Next year! Next year I shall have my camel ride.

We have a weird tradition here in the Northwest of fair scones. The Fisher Mill started serving them back in the early days, and they became really popular -- they're the old-fashioned, Englishy scones, not the gross big blocks with sugar that you tend to see here in the US. They're filled with raspberry jam, and they are light and fluffy and when you eat them hot out of the oven it is delicious fair-y goodness that cannot compare. I always buy a baker's dozen and then eat half of them on the way home and the other half I space out for days. Sometimes if I can find clotted cream then I can have cream tea every day.

I was bummed because my friend Michael wouldn't even ride the ferris wheel with me. I can never find people who want to go on rides with me. I get that a lot of people can't handle them, but I need to find a ride companion one of these days. They have this fabulous roller coaster that's one of the last remaining wooden ones around, and it's deliciously scary.

Anyway, I do love the fair, and I always have nice weather when I go there, but it's also a harbinger of fall, and knowing that in a couple days summer's officially over and then I has a sad. As well as SAD. We've had a spectacular summer here, for the first time in years and years. Almost no rain, sunny nearly every day, only a few days above 90 degrees F, it's just been divine. I'm very sorry to see it end.
gwyn: (hearts wizzicons)
OMG you guys, I got TWO freakin' awesome Festivids this year, again! I can't believe it -- this is only my second year participating and both times, I got two fucking amazeballs vids, one serious and beautiful and haunting and one hilarious and cracked. I am totally not worthy of this largesse.

For this year's serious and beautiful and haunting, I got a vid in Case Histories, the exquisite British series starring Jason Isaacs, called Holland. I know a lot of people haven't seen this series, so I'm afraid it's not going to get the love it deserves -- it's absolutely lovely. The song choice could not have been more perfect for the show, with the haunting line "we are many, we are dust" such a great backdrop for all the broken people Jackson has helped, despite him being broken himself. Augh, I'm so flaily about this vid.

My hilarious and cracked vid is for Mayhem-Allstate Insurance TV ads, to Kasabian's Clubfoot. It's no secret I love this song, as I've used it for a vid of my own years ago, and I adore Mayhem, so it's totally win-win. The slighly ominous tone of the music is a perfect complement to his wacky shenanigans, and makes them seem even more slightly sinister -- it's freaking awesome that way. Man, I got a Mayhem story for Yuletide and now a Mayhem vid for Festivids -- I could not be happier.

I've been really depressed lately, and both these vids just lifted me up so high. Please go watch them and leave feedback for my wonderful gift vidders.
gwyn: (yuletide lights)
Finished my Yuletide story first draft last night. It's shameful, really, I should have been finished weeks ago, but...wow, I have a hard time writing still these days. Anyway, now I need to shape it up and hopefully find a beta if I can.

And then get started on Festivids. I've been waffling about song choice for the longest time, and I just need to clip at least, and with any luck the song will come along. I have had one in mind for a long time, but it's not quite perfect for this particular situation, and I've tried a bunch of other good ones, but none of them feel perfect.

I did the friending meme on kouredios' LJ and so there might be some new people reading this -- hello! ::waves:: I have to get my ass in gear and start adding to my circle as well. I will try to be more entertaining than I've been of late. And post more often. After all, conversation is the motivation behind the friending meme, so I better get conversatin'!

Buffy still isn't adopted yet. We've been to a bunch of adoption events and everyone falls in love with her, but no one seems to want to take the plunge and commit. We met a couple who are moving to Spain soon (he's in the Navy), and they seemed like they really wanted to do it, but I haven't heard anything yet so I'm starting to believe that's not happening, either. I'm kind of crushed for her. It's such a boring life here, all she does is sleep most of the time because it's just me and I'm staring at a computer all the time. She deserves so much more. The other nice thing would have been that this couple have a poodle already, so she would have had a companion of her own kind (she's a yorkiepoo).

Now that all the shows are going on holiday hiatus, I'm trying to catch up on the movies I've had piling up on the tifaux. I watched John Carter tonight. I'd had this idea that it would be better than everyone said, and I'd be all "they just didn't understand it," but nope. It really was as bad as they said. I felt kind of sorry for everyone involved. Poor Taylor, too...the guy needs something worthy of him. There were so many good people in that movie, and you could see them trying really hard, but...wow. Just so bad. And usually I can pinpoint what makes it so, however, this time, I'm incapable of ascertaining just where they could have fixed it.
gwyn: (bumble _hellsbelles)
I am sorry I'm so late with this letter, because I deeply appreciate that you are making me a vid! Last year was my first Festivids, and it was a wonderful experience -- so rest assured, I will be thrilled with whatever you make me.

I don't have a lot to add to the optional details in the original signup, but here's a little bit about me and my likes/dislikes and the fandoms in case it helps.

More under the cut )
gwyn: (abed spaceman grosserpepper)
I haven't been updating at all, and now I owe both a Festivids letter and a Yuletide letter to my giftee givers. I am so behind. Every time I think I'm catching up, I get behind again. It's depressing. The workout thing is really affecting my work situation -- it cuts my day in half in a weird way, but mostly it's just that when I get back, it's hard for me to settle down and concentrate on work, so I often don't start until hours later. After being stalled on progress, though, I have a lost a whole pound, woo hoo, and a few tenths of a percent of body fat. It's not happening fast enough. They keep saying it will, but I just... I don't know.

Now, though, I have a really serious foot problem that I didn't have before, and nothing is helping it get better. I looked up some stuff last night and I think it sounds exactly like a couple things, one is a more serious condition and the other is more of a bunch of symptoms resulting in a condition. Either way, all the cool new shoes I've bought recently will be right out at least for the foreseeable future. But I also bought two new pairs of workout shoes and this is the second time I'm going to have to return them when I head over to the mall in a little bit. Arg! Why so difficult?

I did get a personal chef, though. There are still some kinks to work out on it, but it's helping me to focus my eating a little better. My big problem is still wanting dessert after dinner and my sweet tooth attacks -- ever since sis_r died, I've had such a sweet tooth for pastries and things like that. Sometimes it's almost uncontrollable.

I went off antidepressants a few months ago and it's still weird and affecting me strangely. Sparkly head and all. The big thing is that EVERYthing makes me want to cry -- I'm like, haven't lost weight? CRY CRY CRY. Foot hurts? SOB UNCONTROLLABLY FOR TWO HOURS. Can't figure out aspect ratio problems trying to make Thor/Avengers vid? WHERE ARE RAZOR BLADES I NEED RAZOR BLADES RIGHT NOW I CAN'T GET BLADES OUT OF SHAVING RAZOR OMG WHY IS SUICIDE SO HARD?

I'm not really kidding. This is how my mind is lately. I'm like socially awkward penguin on steroids. And it's a cycle -- the more I think like that, the more I cry over every fucking thing and every interaction with a human, the more awful I feel and the more I just wish I could wither and die.

Everyone says the exercise is great to make you feel less depressed. Hah. It just makes me more depressed, because I'm still fat, and my back is not all better, and now I have a wretched foot injury.

But anyway. I need to concentrate on Festivids and Yuletide. I've turned down two jobs so I can have some time to myself this season. I don't have anymore family members to die, so that should leave me with plenty of time. Silver linings, eh?

I hope there will be some Happy Endings vids in Festivids this year. I'm just counting hours till it comes back, now that Community is going to be taken from us again and who knows when that will really come back.

OK, letters later for my authors.
gwyn: (slings & arrows wtf)
I think I will try to do both Festivids and Yuletide again this year. Dad's already dead, so at least that won't interfere with my ... uh, deadlines again. And after the books I have now, I'm not taking on anymore projects for winter. So there.

To wit, I've nominated 16 fandoms so far. Only a couple have other nominations, I was mildly heartened to see one other person has listed Case Histories, but I know better than to hope for something in that. Some of these are just "gee, that might be fun to vid" while others are more of the "OMG want" category. We can do 20 max, so I still have room for four more if I change my mind.

Awake (2012) [TV]
Big Trouble In Little China [Movie]
Black Hawk Down [Movie]
Burn Notice [TV]
Case HIstories [TV]
Charlie Jade [TV]
Drive Angry (2011) [Movie]
Generation Kill [TV]
Local Hero [Movie]
The Magnificent Seven (1998) [TV]
Mayhem (Allstate TV ads) [Commercial]
MDs [TV]
Miami Vice [TV]
The Middleman [TV]
Strange Days [Movie]
Strike Back (2010) [TV]
ETA: And Kiss Kiss Bang Bang! I knew there was another one I forgot.

Some might notice the preponderance of Jason Isaacs and William Fichtner. I'm just saying. (I wonder why Case Histories has the uppercase I in the middle -- I bet that's my fault from nominating it last year, because I'm the worst typist.) Strike Back seems problematical because the first season is a different cast and tone, and the second series was referred to as Strike Back: Project Dawn to distinguish it in some markets. I wonder if that will have an effect on what's requested/offered and could cause "not the fandom I'm talking about" issues.

OK, back to work now. Regency romance proofread is awaiting my eyeballs.

My Festivid

Feb. 4th, 2012 05:56 pm
gwyn: (omar alexandral)
This year I made a vid for The Wire, for [livejournal.com profile] anoel, which was a pretty awesome assignment: someone I know and really like makes it a whole lot easier to work on a vid! I have had this piece in mind for a long time for The Wire, and it spoke to me as an Omar vid in a lot of ways. For years, I've avoided making any Wire vids, I've been daunted by trying to tell any of those stories because the show is just so damn good and so complex that vidding feels like a huge challenge. But Festivids felt like a good time to try to do it. A million thanks to [livejournal.com profile] killabeez and [livejournal.com profile] sdwolfpup for their encouragement and tossing around the topic with me; their own Wire vids were hugely inspirational to me in making this.

I think the streaming version of this really looks bad, but I'll put it up here anyways. The DL is a lot better.

Soul Survivor
Artist: Young Jeezy with Akon
Fandom: The Wire
File: 32MB Divx avi
Streaming: http://www.viddler.com/v/576e71c4



And my lovely gifts were made by Zhailei and Killabeez! You should totally go check them out -- the supercool Middleman vid is awesome, and I didn't know the vidder before, so yay, new vidding pals!! It's cool to see people being enchanted by Killa's wonderful vid for Catch & Release, too -- more people to check out this lovely movie of my heart!

My Festivid

Feb. 4th, 2012 05:53 pm
gwyn: (omar alexandral)
This year I made a vid for The Wire, for [personal profile] anoel, which was a pretty awesome assignment: someone I know and really like makes it a whole lot easier to work on a vid! I have had this piece in mind for a long time for The Wire, and it spoke to me as an Omar vid in a lot of ways. For years, I've avoided making any Wire vids, I've been daunted by trying to tell any of those stories because the show is just so damn good and so complex that vidding feels like a huge challenge. But Festivids felt like a good time to try to do it. A million thanks to [personal profile] killabeez and [personal profile] sdwolfpup for their encouragement and tossing around the topic with me; their own Wire vids were hugely inspirational to me in making this.

I think the streaming version of this really looks bad, but I'll put it up here anyways. The DL is a lot better.

Soul Survivor
Artist: Young Jeezy with Akon
Fandom: The Wire
File: 32MB Divx avi
Streaming: http://www.viddler.com/v/576e71c4



And my lovely gifts were made by Zhailei and Killabeez! You should totally go check them out -- the Middleman vid is awesome, and I didn't know the vidder before, so yay, new vidding pals!! It's cool to see people being enchanted by Killa's wonderful vid for Catch & Release, too -- more people to check out this lovely movie of my heart!
gwyn: (middleman german film)
OMG, you guys, I got two wonderful Festivids this year. It's my first year participating and I got two!!!! And they are both magnificent and have not enough comments, so you should totally go watch them and leave comments for my wonderful vid giftie givers!

The first one is for The Middleman, and it's just fabulous and funny and silly and captures the tone of the show so perfectly: The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny by Lemon Demon (and at DW here). Seriously, Indiana Jones references, Wendy is Chuck Norris, and Abraham Lincoln with a machete. It's just wonderful and it looks really fabulous, and the timing is superb. I hold it next to my heart, but I'm also careful not to watch it again when I'm drinking tea.

The second one is just... here is where I get all flaily and teary-eyed: It's for the little movie of my heart, Catch and Release, and I was really not expecting this because only about five people in the world have ever seen the movie, and probably even fewer of us love it with a passion like I do. Breakable (DW here is an Ingrid Michaelson song that just fits the characters in this movie to an absolute T -- they are all breakable girls and boys, but they are resilient because they love. Even if you don't know the movie, you should watch this vid because it's lovely and beautiful and sniffly and perfect.

This has really made a time that's been feeling pretty bad so much better. I feel very lucky.
gwyn: (wes squee jidabug)
Happy birthday, [livejournal.com profile] killabeez!! I am so glad that you are here (both on earth and in Seattle!!). It's a privilege to know you.

And thanks for the birthday wishes of my own this past week. I didn't get to go to Portland like I'd hoped, but we may still go down next weekend if things work out. I'm not sure what I'm going to be able to do with the dog, but hopefully somehow she'll be taken care of. I had a lovely lunch on my birthday with [livejournal.com profile] killabeez and Mr. Killabeez and [livejournal.com profile] kerithwyn up at Cafe Presse, and went from there to dinner at this new Irish pub & restaurant in my neighborhood with my neighbor ladies. By the time I got home, I'd had more than too much to drink from the day, so I just plonked down on the couch and watched TV. A good birthday, all things considered.

I have, though, been thinking so much of Sandy and my sister. It's the time of year, and just the feeling of missing them both so horribly. Of how unfair it all is. It was so bizarre to have our annual turkey bash with the Cannibals, and not see Sandy there, chomping on a turkey leg, being the life of the party as always. And every year, not getting the phone calls all day from sis_r, if she wasn't here already to have our birthday together. Life feels very empty.

-----
Yesterday I took TIlda all the way up to Woodinville to meet a woman who wanted to adopt her. Not only was she incredibly late and I had to wait around for 45 minutes, but then she dithered for another couple hours while I tried to answer all the questions and let her walk Tilda with her blind, geriatric Bichon who didn't seem to be interested in Tilda much. But honestly, it's a terrible place for the dogs to meet -- a busy adoption event at a pet store, full of barking dogs and people. So three hours later she decided to pass because her dog wasn't bouncing with joy, and I was grumbling about having too much work to do to deal with that. Poor Tilda was so confused and tired and thirsty and hungry. I was secretly hoping she wouldn't get adopted, so it doesn't bother me, but it bothered me a lot that I had to spend that much time and drive that far if she was already unsure and the whole thing was hanging on a very elderly dog bonding immediately with her, in a strange and challenging environment. At least we met a woman in the parking lot who loves pugs and she said she would check the web site to see if the adoption went through or not, because she was instantly in love with Tilda when we ran across her.

It's so weird that this poor kid has been passed over so much. I get people being wary about the kennel cough, but man, she is so adorbs, I would have waited on her if that was the case. She is a wonderful dog and if my life weren't so freaking stressful, I would keep her, no doubt. We've really only had one bad day, and one potty accident, and that's it for behavior problems. There are things I'm working on, for sure, like her maniacal barking and caroming off the dash and windows and seats when she's left in the car if I go into the store, but everything is really small compared to the kinds of behavior issues most dogs have who've been in difficult situations like hers. Her barking is so funny, though -- it sounds like... well, I don't have anything to compare it to, it's so crazy. We stopped at a 7-Eleven yesterday on the way home for liquids, and this guy was eating something in his truck, parked next to me. He said out the window, "I have to say, I've never heard a bark like that. It's really something." And I laughed, and said, yeah, and sometimes she sounds like a Wookiee, too.

This morning the guys from the crew that put in my new back yard came to winterize things and to cut down my beloved golden chain tree. It looks naked back there now. The trunk was so rotted that there were sections where it was hollow in the middle. And they didn't even have to grind out the roots much -- most of them were already rotten. I guess I'm glad it won't fall over on the new garage or the new addition or the new deck. But I really miss it and the birds it brings, not to mention no bees come April. I'm considering planting a new one out front, and putting in a mimosa out back in its spot. But that's not till spring. Which, at this juncture, feels terribly, terribly far away.

Now I have to start posting my latest job to the client so it'll be there for her Monday morning, and then I have to get started on Festividding and Yuletiding, OMG. [insert PANIC here]
gwyn: (wes squee jidabug)
Happy birthday, [personal profile] killabeez!! I am so glad that you are here (both on earth and in Seattle!!). It's a privilege to know you.

And thanks for the birthday wishes of my own this past week. I didn't get to go to Portland like I'd hoped, but we may still go down next weekend if things work out. I'm not sure what I'm going to be able to do with the dog, but hopefully somehow she'll be taken care of. I had a lovely lunch on my birthday with [personal profile] killabeez and Mr. Killabeez and [personal profile] kerithwyn up at Cafe Presse, and went from there to dinner at this new Irish pub & restaurant in my neighborhood with my neighbor ladies. By the time I got home, I'd had more than too much to drink from the day, so I just plonked down on the couch and watched TV. A good birthday, all things considered.

I have, though, been thinking so much of Sandy and my sister. It's the time of year, and just the feeling of missing them both so horribly. Of how unfair it all is. It was so bizarre to have our annual turkey bash with the Cannibals, and not see Sandy there, chomping on a turkey leg, being the life of the party as always. And every year, not getting the phone calls all day from sis_r, if she wasn't here already to have our birthday together. Life feels very empty.

-----
Yesterday I took TIlda all the way up to Woodinville to meet a woman who wanted to adopt her. Not only was she incredibly late and I had to wait around for 45 minutes, but then she dithered for another couple hours while I tried to answer all the questions and let her walk Tilda with her blind, geriatric Bichon who didn't seem to be interested in Tilda much. But honestly, it's a terrible place for the dogs to meet -- a busy adoption event at a pet store, full of barking dogs and people. So three hours later she decided to pass because her dog wasn't bouncing with joy, and I was grumbling about having too much work to do to deal with that. Poor Tilda was so confused and tired and thirsty and hungry. I was secretly hoping she wouldn't get adopted, so it doesn't bother me, but it bothered me a lot that I had to spend that much time and drive that far if she was already unsure and the whole thing was hanging on a very elderly dog bonding immediately with her, in a strange and challenging environment. At least we met a woman in the parking lot who loves pugs and she said she would check the web site to see if the adoption went through or not, because she was instantly in love with Tilda when we ran across her.

It's so weird that this poor kid has been passed over so much. I get people being wary about the kennel cough, but man, she is so adorbs, I would have waited on her if that was the case. She is a wonderful dog and if my life weren't so freaking stressful, I would keep her, no doubt. We've really only had one bad day, and one potty accident, and that's it for behavior problems. There are things I'm working on, for sure, like her maniacal barking and caroming off the dash and windows and seats when she's left in the car if I go into the store, but everything is really small compared to the kinds of behavior issues most dogs have who've been in difficult situations like hers. Her barking is so funny, though -- it sounds like... well, I don't have anything to compare it to, it's so crazy. We stopped at a 7-Eleven yesterday on the way home for liquids, and this guy was eating something in his truck, parked next to me. He said out the window, "I have to say, I've never heard a bark like that. It's really something." And I laughed, and said, yeah, and sometimes she sounds like a Wookiee, too.

This morning the guys from the crew that put in my new back yard came to winterize things and to cut down my beloved golden chain tree. It looks naked back there now. The trunk was so rotted that there were sections where it was hollow in the middle. And they didn't even have to grind out the roots much -- most of them were already rotten. I guess I'm glad it won't fall over on the new garage or the new addition or the new deck. But I really miss it and the birds it brings, not to mention no bees come April. I'm considering planting a new one out front, and putting in a mimosa out back in its spot. But that's not till spring. Which, at this juncture, feels terribly, terribly far away.

Now I have to start posting my latest job to the client so it'll be there for her Monday morning, and then I have to get started on Festividding and Yuletiding, OMG. [insert PANIC here]
gwyn: (chuck schnookface inanna1130)
Wow, so my Festivids assignment is very interesting. Not at all what I expected, and I'm a little freaked out because now I'm going "whyyyyyy did I offer that? What was I thinking?" and having panic paralysis. But first I need to finish this 700+ page fishing guidebook and the magazine that came in unexpectedly, and I'm six days behind on the book because the PM left for vacation and forgot to tell me the files were ready, and now I'm sweating bullets, and also, I have to finish my Justified vid first. Which is gonna be work. Hello, drowning not waving.

Yesterday I bit the bullet and got an iPhone. Also signed up with Sprint. I've wanted to get away from AT&T for a while because they support right-wing politicians, but I had a good (old) plan that I knew I could not find a similar price on anywhere since the move to smartphones has changed the cell landscape so much. I really don't need to be tracked down and I don't have family and whatnot, so it seemed really unnecessary. But my cell phone, which I only bought earlier this year, is borked again and doesn't seem to be fixable, so. I didn't get the new one, just the regular 4 model, and apparently I got their last white one (doesn't show messy fingerprints as much).

I feel like I'm not in a financial position to have one of these, but Sprint actually has a bunch of deals you can get, including a AAA discount, so that helped me somewhat. I have a lot of reorganizing to do of my electronic life. I just don't have the time or the energy. But I know I need to find ways to get some of these costs down, even if it includes changing providers and all the attendant hassles with email addys and links to fic and the rest. Why is this so hard? Why can't we just snap our fingers and have it done? I wish this was something I could hire out, because I'd totally pay someone to do all this shit for me!

So, hey, now if you have an iPhone, we could video chat with each other. I'm living in the future!
gwyn: (bumble _hellsbelles)
Hello, my Festividding friend! This is my first year participating, though I am a looooong-time vidder. So I am very excited about this! As you can probably tell from my grotesque overuse of exclamation points!

I honestly don't have a lot to add to my information on the fandoms that I haven't already included in the details. I hope that the information about music ideas or the kinds of things I like in that fandom will be helpful, but most importantly, I hope you will have fun and put your squee for the fandom in the vid. That's what will make both of us happy! I am excite!

Some stuff about me and vids and my fandoms in case you want it )

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