all fanfiction is collected on no cowboys here.

( Original fiction )

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. ( To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. )

daffodowndilly
n. plural -lies. Chiefly British Dialect. daffodil.


no, you can't eat it. i don't care how hungry you are.

...sorry.

Rabbits and/or groundhogs ate my lettuce. My beautiful, beautiful lettuce that was about a week away from being salad. Where once were lovely green leaves are now mere gnawed-on stumps. I am torn between the urge to bawl my eyes out and deep, dark, heart-felt desire to take up the hobby of bunny assassination.

>_<

At least there's still time to grow another crop. And put up a rabbit-proof fence. Apparently groundhogs can get around/under/over/through just about anything.

They'd better not do anything to the carrots, though.

"Mr. G is a prototype of Project Ginja Assassin, a bioculinary weapons technology that despite early promise remained--alas!--on the drawing board. Can you imagine a legion of gingerbreadmen, all impervious to pity, guilt or scruples, as the advance guard of an army on the move? Frontline bakeries would have been able to churn him out by the thousand, then set him against the enemy with a hardwired knowledge of every method of death imaginable. He is agile, adaptable, tireless and highly motivated--the perfect Ginja--and he can never be caught."

Jasper Fforde, The Fourth Bear, ch. 36 "Totally over the top at SommeWorld"

My dad's sermon text for today:

Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh. Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.

Again, I saw vanity under the sun: one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, "For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?" This also is vanity and an unhappy business.

Ecclesiastes 4:4-8, ESV

Just realized the third birthday of this lj happened a couple days ago. Um. I'm too busy trying to get myself to catch up on my GINORMOUS backlog of stories and things to do another ficlet/time-stamp thingy or much of anything else to celebrate, but I've got time enough to do a quick retrospective. These are the stories that I can reread without wanting to fix, that resonate yes in my bones, that fell neatly into words as if they'd already been written.

2006: Down the Arches of the Years. This is what started it all. The first thing I wrote that felt real and solid enough for me to share with someone not related to me. It's . . . a little odd, though. Opaque. My mom asked me once what it was about and I couldn't tell her.

2007: Discretion. I'm not sure why I like this one so much--something about it just feels right. May be the only existing bit of fanfiction for The Song of Roland.
In Time I Might Be King. I love this. It fell into my head like a gift, and is probably my favorite thing I've written so far. It's the epitome of my John Sheppard.
Perspective. This is my take on love and romance, and makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside every time I read it.
The Drift of Eastern Grey. I can't really talk about this one.
To Move Mountains. If In Time I Might Be King is the epitome of John, this is the epitome of John & Rodney & Team.

2008: Things Already Seen (and snippet). I desperately want more of this. I want a whole season--or five, perhaps--of this.
A Laborious Madness. Unfinished; this scene is the only one that I like, and there's a good chance no more of it will ever see the light of day, but I do adore this bit.

2009: Prometheus In Stasis. This is me right now, minus the eagle/liver thing.
That March With Muffled Drum. Because I both do and don't like Barrie's ending to Peter and Wendy.

Poll #1421897
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

preferred summer footwear?

I'm partial to nekkid, myself.

No definitions for these. I was going to, but every entry I could find for either was absolutely huge, and I don't have the patience to finagle the coding so it would look right.

Anyway, this is just the last leftover bit from college. It's funnier (slightly) when you understand that I went to a "great books" school and occasionally did crazy stuff like read 400 pages in a single afternoon for class that evening. Not something I'd recommend doing on a regular basis.

( Equilibrium )
( NCIS )

There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant game back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the market-place I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture; now, lend me you horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the market-place and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.

Anonymous; from To Make a Long Story Short by Jeffrey Archer

A sober poem for a Sunday afternoon.

i hope to hell i'm wrong
by hradzka

The oldest and the harshest truths
are those we cast aside.
Too hurtful to the dreams of youth,
of peace obtained with pride:
But it's written out in martyrs' blood,
erased, and writ again:
when men with guns fight those without,
the men with guns will win.

(continue reading here)

This is prompted mostly by Thursday's rant post.

What makes a good TV show? Snappy dialog, solid plots, awesome characters, cool premise, prettiness? Internal consistency? Attention to accuracy and detail? Characters and dialog can make or break a show, but I think it's the other stuff that makes it worth rewatching.

What do you think?

Warning: this be mostly me ranting about stuff that really really REALLY bugs me. And I'm probably blowing it all out of proportion, but these are the things that keep me from really enjoying the show. Also, I change tenses wildly throughout. Sorry about that.

Please feel free to do some ranting of your own in the comments--at me, at the show, at the weather. (My strawberries keep going rotten before they ripen, because of all the rain. So very frustrating.) I promise to at least feign interest and not to laugh.

( Basically, I wish miss_porcupine's version was canon )

Have you ever stood and watched an earthworm cross the sidewalk? It's exhausting and a little humbling. Makes me glad I have feet and don't have to scrunch-stretch-scrunch-stretch my way everywhere.

Also, I have four DreamWidth invite codes, all up for grabs.

consciousness
n. 1 a: the quality or state of being aware especially of something within oneself b: the state or fact of being conscious of an external object, state, or fact c: awareness ; especially : concern for some social or political cause
2: the state of being characterized by sensation, emotion, volition, and thought : mind
3: the totality of conscious states of an individual
4: the normal state of conscious life
5: the upper level of mental life of which the person is aware as contrasted with unconscious processes


i'm feeling uninspired at the moment, so here: have a leftover from my college days

as you tumble through your day,
time streaming past you like fine water,
every fleeting word you say
flies away from your lips, buzzing like
a bee that draws impossible lines through the air.

your mouth is like a bee hive
full of sweet honey and fierce stings
and a hundred possibilities of things
that cannot be.

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant--
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise

As Lightening to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind--

Emily Dickinson

I want to do a drabble meme, but I still haven't finished up the 5-things meme I did several months ago, and I'm trying to get better at finishing one thing before starting another. So no drabbles this week. Maybe next.
Poll #1415278
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

favorite fuzzy baby animal

ETA: Okay, so maybe they are.

This was one of the sg1_five_things prompts a ways back that I always meant to write but never did, which eventually spun off into what will be a very long story when I finally manage to write it. These are more along the line of notes to myself than anything else, but I thought you might be amused to see what most of my stories look like before they get turned into actual stories.

*

1. Really, it was just one more reason to hate the Ancients.

(Handcuffs, John and Jack as ‘wardens’, Daniel as ‘prisoner’. Stupid ATA gene.)


2. Daniel probably should have been more freaked out, but he was too busy being worried about Sheppard.

(Daniel and John wind up in a hole barely worthy calling a prison, where John keeps everyone at bay long enough for Jack & Co. to show up, at which point he more or less passes out. I don't remember how the bed was supposed to figure into it.)


3. Big party, not enough beds.

(Or: things the military makes you do in the name of diplomacy.)


4. (Yes yes all right) They all huddle together to conserve body heat.

(Again, I don't remember the exact scenario, although off-hand I can think of at least six possibilities.)


5. Turn the lights out when you go, or, the one that will actually get written someday. No, really. AKA: Atlantis go boom.

(In which John is traumatized and haunted by guilt, Daniel is sleep-deprived, and Jack keeps watch. Oh, and they all share an air mattress at some point.)

optimism
n. tendency to expect the best possible outcome or dwell on the most hopeful aspects of a situation


this is why i'm not a cartoonist for real

( Honor Harrington )
( The Squire's Tale )
( The Big Over Easy )
( The Spirit )

ACT 1.

Brat: (mournfully) I itch.

ACT 2.

Brat: (incoherently) ARGH!

ACT 3.

Brat: I give up. (scratches. shows no sign of stopping.)

EPILOGUE.

Okay, okay. I'll go get the anti-itch spray stuff. (It's more effective, but nowhere near as satisfying as clawing my skin off with my fingernails.)