For those of you who don't already know, am leaving today for a trip out West.

To Montana (National parks and the state where the Vulcans made First Contact, ahoy!) and South Dakota, to be precise.

I will be keeping a journal and taking my usual massive amount of photographs.

Back on the 16th (give or take a few time zones for the rest of you lot).

Live long and prosper.

I figured I'd just keep posting this as I ended up with more of it. I feel like a very confused serial writer, albeit one with no actual deadlines.

Something may actually be happening at this point, hence the subject title. I think. Possibly.
...You get some setting information, anyway. And a couple of names. And what seems to be a considerable bit of prejudice on our heroine's part. Oh, and a dream sequence.

( Trance, a third segment )

I'd like to say the plot thickens, but I'm not entirely sure I've got one. -_-

Regardless. I find myself liking the night-eyes for some reason, even if Tabitha doesn't.

(The whole eye thing is due to the tapetum lucidum, which is the posh scientific name for the layer of reflective cells in the eyes of cats and what have you. No, they probably didn't have to give these guys orange or yellow irises to go along with it, but I have a suspicion my eugenicists are partially motivated by the Rule Of Cool. Both the color and the eyeshine are a mild surprise if you aren't expecting it, though. Which is unfortunate if said night-eyes is also aiming a gun at your head.)

And yes, vampirechipmunk , I know you thought her name was going to be Cassandra to fit with the whole 'seer' motif, but it occurred to me that there have got to be so many trancers named Cassandra, Sybil, et al that it's not even funny anymore.

Tabitha is an Aramaic name for 'gazelle,' unless the Internet is lying to me again.

Some people buy their dads power tools for Father's Day. I made mine dinner, and also wrote a short Star Trek crackfic upon request.
Involving a lot of aliens in tuxedos and a penguin, per said request.

We were all rather amused by it, so I figured I'd put it up here and torture everyone else too.

All canon characters, species, concepts, quotes, places, and related Star Trek indicia property of the late, great Gene Roddenberry- and CBS Paramount, which is still alive and well. The tiny Douglas Adams reference, of course, belongs to Douglas Adams. As does, I think, rather a bit of the general narrative style, Fan-impulses are hard to resist sometimes. *sigh*
I do own the one OC, though, which is a pity since I'm running out of room in my head for members of his species.


To reiterate, this is crack. Taking it seriously is highly inadvisable.

( Black And White )

...but I ended up continuing it.

My brain drippings are like that. I start something, I ignore it for months at a time, and then I get sufficiently bored and start adding more words onto it.

lady_rilwen usually distracts me with RPs enough that this doesn't happen, but what can you do.

This is the original:

http://lycaenion.livejournal.com/25141.html#cutid1

Here is the next segment; it's not very much, but now there seems to be the possibility of some kind of plot.

( Trance, a continuation )

And then I ran out of words again. All I know about this is that it was inspired by my browsing an anthology of young-adult fantasy and SF short stories and thinking, Hell, I can do one of these! And this was way back in March.
Oh, and human eugenics are fun. (KHAAAAAAAN! ...Yes, I had to do that.)

U.S. History and Government final tomorrow. Ugh.

...a turtle.

Yes. Do not question my whims. ;P

So I'm at the computer, pretending to do slaving away over a history assignment, and Mum, leaving for dance rehearsal, calls me outside to come see a turtle on the hill.

Being a reptile geek, I immediately abandon everything, go on a mad quest for my trusty camera, and come running outside to see said turtle.

( This is the turtle you're looking for )

'Reptile geek,' of course, means that I am a geek who thinks reptiles are fascinating creatures, not that I, as a geek, am personally of any reptilian ancestry. That would just be silly. *cough*

Taken from lady_rilwen .

1. Open your music library (iTunes, Media Player, MP3 player, etc.)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For the first question, type the song that’s playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button TWICE
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool... just type it in!

Right. So I've got a ton of stuff on my iTunes by now... movie soundtracks, Disney songs, and of course sizeable amounts each of the bands and artists I've discovered over the years.

Not all of this music is on my iPod, for the simple and somewhat silly reason that I like having different music for when I work on the computer than for the rest of my life (said iPod is generally hooked up to ears, horribly off-key singing often included).

And I don't listen to everything on here, but I don't think I'm alone in that. All of the songs, save one (the TNG suite), were actually ones I do frequently hear and love, so...

Note: I included a rather musing and frequently lengthy parenthetical analysis of each one. Read at own risk. ;P

( Here we go )

This was fun. Frequently odd, just as frequently blush- or snicker-worthy. Rather like myself. ;3

Our chief weapon is surprise, surprise such as you may feel upon learning that I'm going to be on vacation for a week, starting next Saturday.

[/severely distorted Python references]

Washington, D.C., to be exact. It seems like it's going to be fun, especially since one of my friends will actually be there at the same time, and we get to go to the zoo and see wolves. (A lady's got to have her priorities straight when she visits her nation's capital, no?)

And there will be much photography, of anything I deem fit for a massive Photo Safari Post Of Doom upon my return.

So, if any among you are unable to bear living without me for that duration, do have your next of kin contact me.

Oh, and I'm deeply obliged for all the birthday congratulations. I tip my Hat to you all.

Apparently I'm 17 today.

Also, Eric Idle shares my birthday. I am perfectly fine with this. =3

Let's see... still can't vote, still can't drink (damn, no kanar or Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters), I could drive if I had the slightest interest in doing so... but hell, I'm here, so it all works out.

Hugs and insanity to all my friends out there. No one said the fun had to stop now. ;D

Oh, and I flatly refuse to act any more mature.

The reason why I have chosen to dump whatever strange and pointless writing spills out of my brain out on here.
Also, anthologies of short fantasy/sci-fi stories just make me want to go and prove that I can write one too- hence, an influence.

Still don't know what this is.

( Trance )

Human eugenics and random present-tense narrative, yay. Specific alterations to the DNA code that do strange things to the firing of neurons and the release of certain chemicals in the brain, causing the person to enter "trance," or a strange, detached state. Although unresponsive to all outside stimuli during trance, after emerging, the person will remember sudden flashes of memory, strange visions, or even exhibit precognition (with a 50% success rate or lower, as much 'seen' during trance is imaginary).
As seen, people designed with the capability for trance are extremely passive, somewhat antisocial, and, by this time, exclusively female (it proved to have drastic, unwanted consequences in male subjects, namely dementia and neural degeneration). They are allowed some leeway in social and legal matters, as other mentally unstable people might be, hence the 'white cards.'
This is not meant to be a commentary on anything. Yet. So far as I know.

In a much shorter explanation, I live in a suburban area, northeastern US, which still has a lot of forest, and, as such, a lot of white-tailed deer.
Someone drew bat wings on a deer-crossing sign, for no apparent reason.

And Kurt Vonnegut is awesome. Thank you, psychotic English teacher, for introducing us.

Anyway, here, have some random pictures, one from today (I often carry my camera around in a small Pocket of Holding in my backpack), and a few from a couple weeks ago.

Just finished watching Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

In a word? Awesome.

(And pleasantly light fare when you've got Watchmen on the brain.)

Last time, of course, it was Dukat/Bashir. Now, in a stunning continuation of the theme of Dukat Can Manipulate Whoever The Hell He Wants Into Doing Whatever The Hell He Wants, we have a brief insight into... Dukat/Weyoun.

Written after Rilwen suggested the pairing, and my brain had recovered from the initial flood of OH ZARQUON, DO NOT WANT. By now, of course, the 'ship has taken over my brain. And yes, this is complete and total crack.

Nothing explicit under the cut, by the way- it's only the pairing which may cause my more delicate readers discomfort. I prefer subtlety to PWP, always.

( Diplomatic Relations )

If you've been tempted, go and read Rilwen's contribution. It's longer, more explanatory, and quite well-done.
http://lady-rilwen.livejournal.com/13022.html

Due to Freewebs being inexplicably annoying, have made a side-journal for PPC affairs. LJ is generally more co-operative anyway.

All four current missions have been uploaded; later ones will follow. Will probably also add any forthcoming interludes, RPs, what have you.

Located at rc1764 .



Chemistry mid-term tomorrow. Fun.

So I've gotten a little bit into Dungeons and Dragons, mostly as a result of vampirechipmunk 's new obsession with it and some very silly role-playing with lady_rilwen .
And my father, you see, is an ex-Dungeon Master. This means a) my nerdiness is at least partially genetic and b) we've got a lot of old books and manuals lying around.

So, today, I get bored and decide to look at one of these. I come to the section with character profiles. I read about one particular character, and parts of my brain short-circuit in astonishment, while others start jumping up and down in glee.

This is from the profile of Karll, Duke of Urnst, from the Greyhawk Adventures expansion of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

Which is, I ask you to bear in mind, from 1988.

"[Karll] is concerned about his duchy, mainly because it serves him in his never-ending war against evil. He is impatient with the daily necessities of government, and has become a magnet for unscrupulous persons. He naively thinks that other people mean as well as he does, and since he has recieved no training in the art of rulership, he has managed to surround himself with the greatest crowd of thieves outside of the Bandit Kingdoms.
As a result of this, the Duchy is not well-ruled...If the Duke were not so obsessed with his crusade against evil...creatures, he would probably notice [the many problems in his realm] and do something drastic about it, but he is deliberately kept in ignorance by the corrupt advisers around him.
...Duke Karll's ultimate goal is to launch a grand crusade against evil...Even though many functions of government require his presence, he still disappears...for days at a time...He sees the Duchy as a base for his crusade against evil..."

This was written twenty-one years ago.

As my father put it when I showed him, at least now we have a lawful good Paladin to save us. He also mentioned that Cheney is a perfect example of chaotic evil, but you all knew that already.

So my creative writing class, which was only one semester long, is ending tomorrow. I'm rather depressed about this, especially since I have nothing else to fill the space at the moment and am going to have to re-work my schedule.

Anyway, we have to do anthologies as a final project, including some pieces we did during the course, any outside writing, quotes or book excerpts, and a "literacy narrative," a brief piece on what influenced our development as readers and writers.

Thought I'd put mine up here, for the absolute heck of it. Note: I took a bit of a non-linear approach, so it jumps around a bit in time. But to me, it seemed like the kind of thing which ought to be written directly as thoughts occur (and it would be a lot of bother to re-order everything chronologically, since it's due tomorrow).

( Under here... ) And I've started watching a teeny bit of Enterprise, mostly to sit about and MST it. Today? Zombie Vulcans. No, really.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/obama_guantanamo

Obama signed an executive order. Guantanamo Bay is going to be closed down within the year.

I'm completely blown away, for a variety of reasons, which are:

1. A winning presidential candidate actually lived up to one of his promises.

2. I don't care what Darth Sidious Cheney says, torture is torture no matter who's involved in it. We aren't exempt from a little thing called the Geneva Convention just because we're America and they're suspected terrorists.

3. ...Christ on a bike, they're closing Guantanamo. There is hope.

This cements the feeling which the inaugural speech stirred in me: I think I'll wait to move to France, or hitch a lift on the next passing starship. Things might be looking up a little, at least.

And yes, I am fully aware that Obama is not the Messiah. Nor is he Luke Skywalker, whatever that poster of him captioned "A New Hope" (and I kid you not) may think. He is human, and he will fail. But he is pretty damn inspiring.

(Although Cheney is Sidious, Bush is Vader, and McCain is a friendly clone of pre-Empire!Palpatine designed to put us off our guard. And Palin is Darth Maul- she came in for a short time, scared hell out of everyone, did what Palpatine McCain told her to do, and then left.)

Oh, and Jon Stewart? Let it be known that when you played the Imperial March to accompany a picture of wheelchair-bound Cheney leaving Washington forever and ever, and I subsequently cried out with glee that I loved you, I meant it.

(Beccaria= Italian Enlightenment philosopher firmly against capital punishment and torture of all kinds.)

Just found "Darths and Droids" while browing a webcomic thread on the PPC Board.

It's rather amusing– started at the beginning and almost forgot I was still listening to The Phantom Menace soundtrack at the same time. Convenient, that.

"A defining feature of the [Cthulhu] Mythos is the mind-numbingly horrific creatures who dwell in its universe, capable of literally driving humans insane by the mere fact of their existence.

Kind of like Jar Jar on several levels."

Needless to say, this amused me.

 From one of the comics:
GM: Suddenly... you feel a shudder! A giant fish is trying to eat the ship!
Qui-Gon: Is it a tuna?
Obi-Wan: I gun the propeller, hoping to rip its mouth to shreds.
GM: Uh... the propeller isn't powerful enough.
Qui-Gon: We fire the rear weapons!
GM: There are no rear weapons.
Qui-Gon: Turn around and fire the main weapons!
GM: Actually... there are no weapons at all.
Jar Jar: Theesa big fishes eats bongos alla time!
Obi-Wan: I use my Force Suggestion. "Go Away!"
GM: You can't, you're just a Padawan.
Obi-Wan: ... "Padawan"?
Qui-Gon: A woven rug.

Disclaimer: Not mine. Read the comic, it's good for a laugh or two. And Boarder-endorsed.

Am reading Wikipedia article on Scientology, because I've wanted to do so for a while– don't like to call things ridiculous without knowing anything about them.

( Cut for rambling and religion. )
In other news, I got new glasses. =D

actsoflight just got me The Return Of The King in French for Hanukkah. I have been hugging it, gloating over its shiny cover, and calling it "the precious" pretty much nonstop since then. I opened to the poem and for some reason I was just fascinated by it. So I thought I'd transcribe it on here, for no other reason than that I rather like it.

*is still in the throes of "omg I can pretty much understand this completely liek whoa" *

It'd be good to have some reassurance right about now.

Because I opened up a blank TextEdit file, stared at the screen for a minute, and suddenly started writing.

I have no idea what this is, where it came from, or if it will ever lead to anything else. Some part of my brain wants me to keep going, to find out where this is set and what it all means (I'm willing to bet it isn't 42), but I think I'll stop for the moment.

( It's under here. )