I'm Kaethe at AO3, which so far is very cool, both from a reader-perspective and a writer/uploader-perspective. It's going to be ages before I get all my fic up, I'm sure. I uploaded a few old Sentinel stories, and it really goes quite quickly and easily, but I'm just too lazy to do more than a few at a time.

Those Sentinel stories were really quite self-indulgent. Then again, so is most of my fic. I wonder if I can write non-self-indulgent fic?

I am once again not signed up for Yuletide or MYTG or any other exchange/challenge/etc. Well, except mini_nanowrimo. 100 words a day seems to be about my speed. I'm pretty sure this story is going to be self-indulgent, too. :-)

RE: house-buying--it would go much more smoothly if the realtor I contacted, who suggested via email that we go out this weekend and look at houses, had then called me to set up a time so that we could have actually gone out and looked at houses. Because for some reason I'd like to look them over before putting in a bid on them. Call me crazy. Needless to say, I'm contacting another realtor tomorrow. *sigh*

RE: everything else--school is good this year, the best year I've had ever. Will is about normal, and showing the occasional signs of maturity. Married life is not particularly different from non-married life, given that my husband is on the road all the time. I...have been struggling, depression-wise, but trying to keep my head above water. I overdid the sugar last week, which always makes me grumpy, then weepy. I've done much better this weekend, though, which has led to more equalibrium with my moods. Yay for equalibrium. Here's hoping for more of the same.

I need help from people who know music. I have a throw-away line in a story. One guy is apologizing for playing the guitar, which is what he does when he's nervous. (He's playing the melody from Clapton's Tears in Heaven, fwiw.) Another guy is going to say, "It could be worse. You could be playing __________" What would be a cheesy/bad guitarist or guitar song that someone who admired real guitarists (Clapton, Hendrix, etc.) would say in that sentence?

Okay, I think I mentioned we were thinking about buying a house, right? So I'm holding in my hands (metaphorically, because I couldn't type if it were 100% accurate) a check which will be our down payment. I already have several houses scoped out that I want to look at. So...do we go to the bank next and see what kind of mortgage we qualify for? Or do we go to a realtor first?

I have an on-again/off-again sore throat--the type that comes when your glands are filling up with crap. Since the only cold-like meds I have in the house are for chest congestion, I'm taking those periodically. I'm not sure if it's the decongestant or the pain killer, but it does help. Nevertheless, I'm sipping tea with honey in the hopes that if there is an infection going on in there, the honey will fight it.

In other news, there's not much other news. Things proceed as they do. Next week is Red Ribbon Week (y'know that week where you got to dress up weirdly--assuming you were in US schools--and it supposedly kept you off drugs? Yeah, I dunno either.) That means I need, but don't have: a) weird socks, b) a lei, c) any sort of camo gear or sun glasses (maybe there are sun glasses around the house, but when you have to wear prescription real glasses all the time and you don't have/don't want to shell out the money for prescription sun glasses, you just don't usually have them around), d) a team jersey--doesn't matter what team, but since I'm not into sports, it's a moot point, and d) something crazy to do with my hair. *sigh* I don't really want to spend money on this stuff, even though it's the same set of crazy clothes days enough that I could reuse them at least a few times a year.

Other people don't have these kinds of problems on their jobs, do they?

Wow, I'm gloomy today. Not really; I'm actually in a good mood. You just wouldn't know it by this post. Oh, well, off to drink some tea.

Just a random thought: what if "write what you know" means "know what you write"? Even if it's 5th century thieves in Japan or the life of a snake in the Amazon or sentient beams of light on Planet Kzm, if you do your research and *know* that subject as much as anyone can without living it, you're going to sell it* to your audience. It's not so much a matter of what you've lived, but a mixture of what you've learned by living and what you can learn by research and imagination.

*Well, unless you suck as a writer, which is always possible.

Okay, so we all know Hetty on NCIS:LA is basically Edna from The Incredibles, right? Only without the accent? If she starts calling people 'darling', I'm going to die.

For the camera people on my list: my mom has been mentioning wanting a digital camera. Currently she uses a disposable, and that's about where her camera knowledge tops out. I was kind of thinking about getting her a digital for Christmas. What would be an inexpensive, pretty much point-and-shoot digital that would get her decent quality pictures?

I have the oddest urge to write. Preferably hurt/comfort. I know some of you aren't into that stuff, but if anyone has any suggestions/requests, I'll see what I can do.

In other news, there's a better than even possibility that we might be buying a house by the end of the year. Or by the end of the $8,000 tax credit, as the case may be (November 31/December 1, depending on what source you're reading). I find myself horribly nervous about this--not because I think it's a bad idea, but because it's just such a big thing to be wrong about, you know? There's even a house that would suit our needs perfectly. It's on the high end of our budget, but ... well, not only does it have the number of rooms, bathrooms, acres, living rooms, etc. that we want, but it fits in perfectly with my odd history of having something in my address in common with gweneiriol's address. It's like a sign. Well, except for the part where I haven't actually seen it in person and have no idea if anyone else has put in an offer. We're working on getting pre-qualified for a mortgage before we do much of anything else, but we should know something on that by the end of this coming week. If that all works out, I'm going to request a viewing on the house. We'll see.

*amused* I was just skimming back through my "fan fiction" tag to see if it provided a good list of what I can write in case anyone actually has a request, and I happened on this entry that said something about, "I think I have a plot idea for my original novel". Dude, I have *no* idea what I was talking about. What original novel? What plot idea? *headdesk* I am pretty much hopeless.

Dear god, did anyone notice I was talking about mortages and pre-qualifying and stuff as if I knew what I was talking about?

We've had the first day of school twice now--that's what happens when you're on block schedule. I do like block schedule, but somehow going through the first day twice just doesn't seem quite fair. The kids seem good this year. There's an overwhelming number of them, and they just keep coming. No one knows where they're coming from, either, because this wasn't supposed to be the big year. That's next year. So our classes are packed, but ... well, no one's been a huge issue so far. I didn't get to spend much time with my first period class on Monday; they may prove to be the exception to the rule, but I just don't know yet. In the meantime, my feet hurt.

We had to buy a new dryer last night because this one has both stopped heating as much as it should and started in with a horrendous squeaking. It'll be nice to be able to dry clothes again, especially given that I'm running out of things to wear. I'm hoping that by the time we get the dryer paid off (we have 18 months no interest, but we want to pay it off sooner), then we'll be able to do the same thing over again with a washing machine. Ours is okay, but it only runs on one cycle even though it's supposed to have three. It would be nice to have one that not only was more than a one-trick pony, but also was big enough to wash comforters without being afraid of breaking the washer.

(And don't I sound spoiled. I could be washing the things in a wash bucket with one of those rolling wooden doo-hickeys. I really am grateful for what I've got, whether or not I sound like it.)

Tomorrow is the day I *should* be getting the first paycheck with the new insurance taken out plus whatever pay increases/decreases we're going to have. If you hear a scream from my general direction, you'll know I just opened my paycheck and it was worse than I thought. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

My computer is gone for two weeks to get the CD burner fixed *twitch*. Luckily, I can use the brother's computer. But *twitch* nonetheless.

I have been married for two months as of today! Woo-hoo! (I think I've seen my husband 12 days or less in that time span. He should be home sometime in the next month, though, so I'm not going to complain.)

I'm still not entirely used to saying "my husband".

Yesterday was Will's 18th birthday. That's another weird one. 18. Geez.

Life. It just keeps creeping up on you.

For those of you who've been in fandom a long time (any fandom, which one isn't relevant to the question), I need some advice.

I have several archives on my website. Most of them are M7 related. They're all "dead" in the sense that nothing new has been added in years. Also, I don't think they get much traffic anymore (the SPN one does, but the SG1 and M7 ones don't). They're also an unholy mess--broken links, in some cases I have some stories in an automated archive format while some are just linked to a static page. It needs to be completely reorganized, dead links removed, etc.

I'm about to move to a new web host that costs less. I have three options as I see it:

1. Move my site wholesale, leaving the unholy mess of archives as-is. Upsides: no extra work beyond what I was going to have to do anyway; old stories that don't exist anywhere else still exist; could always tackle the unholy mess later, I guess, although my motivation to do so is slim. Downsides: retaining the unholy mess, which is embarrassing.

2. Move my site, clean up the unholy mess. Upsides: stories that don't exist elsewhere on the net would continue to exist; embarrassing mess cleaned up; more useable for others if they started using them--which no one is at this point. Downsides: dear god, the work involved.

3. Move my site, delete the archives. Upsides: no more unholy mess preying on my mind or sitting on my website. Downsides: have I mentioned that there are stories on the M7 archives in particular that are so old they're not anywhere else on the net? Also, I can't really contact all the authors and tell them what's happening with their stories because A) contact information has changed over the years and B) dude, I am so not going through every story to find the contact information for each author. I *could* probably get people to make a general announcement on different communities/mailing lists in the M7 fandom, but that won't reach people who've moved on.

So, I guess what I need advice on is this: what kind of responsibility do I, as the (sort of former) archivist, have toward the authors and the readers of these stories? Can I just delete them, or are they my albatross forever?

All opinions welcome, even though I may not want to hear them :-)

The brother and I went out to Home Depot tonight to price roof vents and shingles to replace the ones we'd have to remove to put in the vents, plus insulation and all the materials needed to replace a couple of sections of wall in the kitchen and bathroom where overflow from a washing machine leak (or several) has caused damage. We haven't added it up yet, but eek anyway. Home improvement is expensive, people.

What's sad is that we don't even own this house. Well, okay, weird situation: Mom owns it, and I pay rent. My rent is about half what a non-family member would pay, but at the same time, I end up paying for a lot of the minor repairs around the place--and some of the major ones, too. On the one hand, that's not so bad because I'm going to inherit this house and the others along with my siblings, so any money invested is going to improve the resale value. On the other hand, a *lot* of money needs to be sunk into the house, and I kind of hate to do it if it's not where we're going to end up living in a few years. Which it might be, but then again, we might decide to buy our own place.

Decisions, decisions. Sometimes being an adult is very confusing. I don't recommend it.

Hi! Long time no post. There's something about not posting for a long time that makes me feel sheepish about poking my head around the door and saying, "I do exist!"

So, anyway, sheepish but existing, and now with bullet points:

* I got married! Back in June, actually, but it still feels like a big deal. I'll post some pics once I get them scanned. The wedding was lovely, even if I do say so myself, and I'm quite happy as a married woman. I'm thinking of doing some back-dated posts about the whole wedding thing before I forget it all. If so, I'll probably just put up a post with links for those interested rather than spamming. You're welcome.

* Will spent the past two weeks in summer school taking Geometry, but he did manage to pass, so now he's officially a senior next year. Eeek! He's been looking for a job, but hasn't found one yet. He's also been talking to a Navy recruiter, but I'm not really sure how that's going to pan out with him being bipolar and all the meds he's on. He's not stable without them, although he does okay with them most of the time. We'll see, I guess.

* William has been home a grand total of seven days since we got married, most of which he spent on a friend's roof in 100+ degree heat, rushing to get it reshingled before it rained. I wonder why it is that being married doesn't feel that different from being single? :-)

* I have spent this summer working around the house, reading, and generally enjoying myself. I refinished an old dresser we had out in the garage for Will, did some gardening and other yard work, and have been working my way through more decrapifying, which is a never-ending task. I also sat around and wished it wasn't 100+ degrees most days in June and the first half of July. Weirdly, it hasn't hit 100 in about a week. The weather, it is strange.

* I have a workshop next week for three days, then about one more week off before I have to go back to school. I have absolutely no urge whatsoever to go back, but who knows? Maybe this year will be less stressful. Oh, quit laughing. It's possible.

* I haven't been spending much time doing anything fannish, including writing or even reading fan fiction. It's just not where my head is at right now, I guess. I've said this before, but if anyone's hanging out for the scintillating fannish discussions, fascinating and emotional fanfic, exciting gossip, etc.--you're sadly deluded and obviously haven't paid any attention to what I post in this journal, like, ever. On the other hand, if you were here because we shared a fandom and you don't really want to read posts about non-fannish things, feel free to defriend. Or defriend if you just want to defriend, or whatever. I'm not sure when/if the fannish thing will come back, so I'd hate to have people hanging around wishing I'd shut up or talk about something they'd be interested in. So, yeah. Do whatever.

School is out! Woo-hoo! This was ... neither my best or my worst year, but one way or the other, it needed to be over.

Did I know that Lou Diamond Phillips is going to be in SG: Universe? That's worth the price of admission right there. I've loved LDP since I was a teenager. Erm, not in a psychotic, stalkerish way, I might add.

In sadder news, David Eddings died. I didn't realize his wife had passed away two years ago. I adored The Belgariad and The Mallorean. They were the first fantasy I read, and along with The Outsiders, were probably the most formative books in my life.

David Carradine died, too. He was awesome as Kwai Chang Caine in KF: TLC. And, if you look at his imdb page, apparently in a zillion other things, too. He definitely left his mark on American popular culture.

If there's anyone left on my friendslist who doesn't have a dreamwidth account and would like an invite code, I have some. Just drop me a comment. There appear to be five of them.

Whoo-hoo! I just sold my Bowflex! I now have more space in my living room! And also money!

I still have almost every DVD box set, not to mention other stuff, that I'm selling here. I would be more than happy to sell them to you. Really, it's no trouble at all.

And now, to figure out what I want to do with that corner...

In geometry, what does it mean if an angle is described as DC, with a horizontal line through the D? I don't have a clue, and neither does Will.

Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever had problems with embedded videos on their friendslist not showing the actual video that the person embedded, but rather a previously embedded video from someone else's post? Like, currently I have the Top 10 something-or-other video showing up for everything everyone embeds on my friendslist. If I click on it, sure enough I get to see the Top 10 whatever. I'm not sure if it's a Firefox thing or what.

(Not x-posting to DW on the grounds that it's a problem on my LJ friendslist, hopefully not to be carried over to DW.)

Once again, in the interest of more closet space and more wedding money, I have stuff to offer. A few zines still, a few books, several DVD box sets, and some miscellaneous crap. Having to post all this stuff on Ebay would make me sad, so please feel free to send any friends, acquaintances, family members. or random strangers to buy my stuff if you don't want it. Comment if interested, or email me at kaethe at livejournal dot com

( Long list o' stuff )

PS: I'd gladly sell you my Bowflex Treadclimber, too, but you'd have to come get it. :-)

I could be wrong, but I think someone broke Dreamwidth. I hope it wasn't me. O.O

ETA: it was me! Or rather, my customizations, and only for my journal. Bye-bye, customizations.

I have a feeling that I'm incubating a sinus infection. Weeks of allergies and being a snot monster are culiminating in minor ear and head pain plus burning in my sinuses. I don't have time for a sinus infection. I bought a neti pot, so maybe that'll help.

I found two Stephanie Plum books at the library today (#12 and #14), but the real jackpot was CJ Cherryh's new book (new to me, at least)--I think it's Regenesis. It's a new Cyteen-universe novel!!! I always loved Justin and Grant. And since I feel a bit crappy and have books to read, I think I'm going to curl up this weekend and just relax and read. I was supposed to go dress shopping with Mom for her wedding dress (that is, her dress for my wedding), but she's had bronchitis all week, so she's staying in and resting, too. We may start a trend.