Ya boy is back 

It was sort of a mini vacation. I wore smashing dresses, ate omakase sushi (my favourite was the sea urchin/tuna tartare, the monkfish liver, and the bonito), and got new earrings. 

I'm now on Ghost Story in the Dresden Files.

I've begun writing That Interquel (which will not exceed 20k words).



Tonight, I watched Lasting Impressions in Season 2 of the Orville. It's another episode where not much happens (much like the season opener Ja'loja, which I loved). I'm aware that it's real similar to several episodes of Star Trek. Still found it very touching, at least partially because I've felt similar infatuations. Not with holodeck ladies environmental simulations, but they honestly might as well have been.   

Also it had this scene: 

Okay so I had a dream about this girl I'm acquainted with. But it was exactly that kind of dream. We were working in this post-apocalyptic factory, made out on a grotty futon, and then she told me that she loved me, and I just totally froze up. Didn't know what to do. Just kissed her and skedaddled. 

After that I dreamed I was rampaging through a haunted gift shop in Skyrim. Shot some flaming arrows at a frost troll. Glitched through a wall (read: found the maintenance access) and then bought a small daisy-embroidered handkerchief and a square blue ornamental glass dish. 

AND THEN. Admiral Cain from Battlestar Galactica was organizing war games in what looked like a Megabuilding from Dredd, and we all know that Admiral Cain doesn't like to lose. Things got all intense until it wasn't a game anymore. Admiral Cain started sending teams of marines through the door and threatening us over the intercom. 

My squad - composed of Colonel Osama bin Tigh (who should be good at this small force vs bigger force stuff!) and Roomba (of all people!!!) began to mount a defense, but just when things were getting interesting, and we'd planted all the explosives and ransacked an armoury, I woke up. 

So just FML.

Why is it whenever I dream of public toilets, they're either out of service, dirty, or don't have working doors?? 

Must I live in terror that Gaius Baltar is going to jump out from behind the sink? Or that the opposing stall door will slowly swing open, revealing Starbuck as she peruses a magazine? 

Please, say it ain't so.  

Just watched E2S10 of BSG and holy shit, I was warned it was a three parter, but now I have to watch the other two otherwise I won't be able to fall asleep tonight, or read the episode synopses on wikipedia. Can only imagine how it must've been when the series was first airing on TV. 

I was rearranging rocks in my tank and I saw a BABY EMBER TETRA about 8mm long. I may have accidentally killed it when I was poking around the tank, but the presence of fry means the fish are happy! Tetras aren't like guppies or cichlids, they're egg-scatterers so it's generally harder to get them to breed. 

In other news I think my hygro has a potassium/magnesium deficiency :/  I've upped the tap in my tap/RO mix so hopefully it works out. Can't wait until the plants fill in so I can ditch the hornwort. Damn thing triples in size every week, and is constantly full of snails, and the tank looks SO MUCH BETTER without it. But I keep it around because it sucks the poop out and prevents me from overdosing ferts.

--

So a person I crushed on years ago is actually trans and bi, and back in the day they were ace and not trans. They look good. 

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Having a lot of trouble with my next chapter because nothing happens, but I couldn't just LEAVE a bunch of temporary emotional loose ends lying around. Dang thing is 63k words long now. Wondering if it'll break 70k, because I haven't even touched the last chapter yet. 

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The Good Place presses all my buttons. Timey-wimey Jeremy Bearimy shit, AU shenanigans (sorta), philosophy, and at last, an answer to why Chidi is so jacked. 

If by "I've been busy" I mean I've posted 5/8 chapters of my Good Omens fanfic. 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19838476 



I had vague ideas for other stories too but I couldn't get them started because they didn't have enough angst to keep them going. 

Ever since Archie comics shook off the Hays comic code they've been doing some interesting things, chiefly Afterlife with Archie, but now also Riverdale. I have some small thoughts about episode 1 - river's edge:

- I like the casting! Veronica (Camila Mendes) is an excellent pick, for sure and she has the best material this episode. Archie (K. J. Apa) looks like a slightly younger Andrew Garfield and Betty (Lili Reinhart) looks like Heather Morris from Glee. I guess it's worth mentioning the cast diversity, relatively speaking. On paper everyone (except Chuck and Nancy) look white as mayo, but Josie and the Pussycats are clearly set up as Destiny's Child, Reggie and Dilton are now the Cool (douche) Asian and Asian Nerd respectively, and Veronica is now Latina. So, this is very cool! 
- That being said I still think it's very weird for actors in their 20s (... Cole Sprouse) to play 15 yr olds. Is it normal for 15 yr olds to be ripped? 
- It's also very odd that Miss Grundy looks nearly the same age as the students... and I can't believe she's in that romance subplot. Squick. What the hell? 
- the dialogue is pretty stylized, but after all, Riverdale is more Brick than Mean Girls. This is not a bad thing. 

My personal predictions, which i will update as time goes on: 
- Betty is going to go completely off the chain by the end of the season, out of stress, and... extenuating plot factors that force her to grow a backbone. Also, I can't see her accepting what Archie was up to that summer. 
- Miss Grundy is going to die. 
- It's jarring that Kevin acts so flamboyant in an adult way at the tender age of 15. IDK it felt a lot more subdued when Kurt in Glee was camping it up. I wouldn't be surprised if they reveal that Kevin did the wild thang for the first time when he was 13, is extremely traumatized on the inside, and pulls a Brandon from Easy A. And dies. 
- Cheryl didn't commit the murder. That's too obvious. But they're definitely incest twins. That's a known fact. She is going to survive and be very unhappy. 
- Veronica is going to die, because she's currently my favourite character. And she's not really reformed right now. 

Title: Pieces tossed aside
Fandom: Firefly
Rating: R
Words: 9230
Characters: Mal, crew. A touch of Mal/Simon and Kaylee/Jayne, although I would consider this genfic more than anything.
Summary: Paquin goes radio silent. Everything else follows. AU. Set after the TV series.

Link

Why I liked it:

This is the best apocalyptic Firefly fic I've ever read. In this fic, the apocalypse is quiet - where you watch worlds go silent, one at a time, and no news is bad news.

This fic is a perfect blend of despair and hope. By that, I mean it's mostly despair and any hope I picked up on was magnified by own denial about how bad the situation actually was. Also, the end was fantastically ambiguous. I want a sequel but Pieces tossed aside is perfect the way it is. 

Thought I'd note down some thoughts about each episode here. All ratings are out of 5.

1 - Kind of an iredeemably rubbish episode.
2 - A bit rubbish but with at least one sufficiently cool part.
3 - A solid episode.
4 - A memorable episode, in a good way. I have a bad memory.
5 - Personal favourite

( expand table )

Conclusions
- Season 1 was pretty hit-or-miss (hit-and-miss?) inconsistent.
- It does have some great moments but doesn't add much to either the plot, mythology, or character development.
- The horizontal stargate - cum - moon door is awesome.

Solid episode. Yell count at laptop-cum-television: 4. Gasp count: 3. I'm not sure that having seen a hooker over twenty years ago is an instant disqualification for a supreme court appointment, but what do I know about America?

As much as I know how many roads a man must walk before he becomes a man. Or what Jesus would do. Or what Batman would do. Or how paranoid one should be.

Well, for the last one, we look to FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder.
( x-files taglines )