#surprisedbylife

[squireofgeekdom]

snippet!

“Wolffe,” Ahsoka says carefully, stepping closer to him. He keeps the blaster trained on her chest. The rest of the Wolfpack has moved together behind him, some of them still nursing small injuries, clearly unsure of what to do. Some of them have their hands on their weapons. Rex watches them carefully.

“Wolffe,” Ahsoka continues. “I would never join the Empire. I would never be a part of this.” Wolffe’s hands are shaking. “We’ve worked together, remember?” She continues, pacifying.  “I’m a friend of General Plo’s. I always have been.”

Some progress notes and thinking out loud about this and other projects under the cut

So this fic, I realized last month or so, is going to be essentially 6 parts, paralleling the movies. Parts 1-3 are mostly done, though they need some additions (in the ‘I only just realized I could make this parallel work after having most of this done’ kind of vein - there might be ~2 more significant scenes in part 1 and another in part 2) and some general connective tissue/polishing stuff. Part 4 is also mostly done but needs some connective tissue and one major scene that I’ve been avoiding. Part 5 has some stuff for the first half and some little snippets for the second half but still needs major planning, and Part 6 exists pretty much entirely in my head. I’m fairly hopeful that I’ll have a full draft for beta reading before the end of the year, but it kinda depends on how crazy this year and especially the rest of the summer is. 

I really like the revision I’ve done with the Wolfpack’s introduction - everything’s flowing much better and I’m glad to inject a little more action into the plot. Now I just have to figure out how Rex and Ahsoka get to the space battle in the first place.

In other projects, I’m working on a short story based on a monologue I did from the perspective of a robot for a class, and by short I mean I only have 16 pages. I’m hopeful that I can wrap that up by the end of summer.

I’m still working - slowly - on this spy novel type thing, though I’m considering tabling it for a while and coming back to it to see if it’s really something worthwhile enough to put the research in that would be required to do it right. So if I do decide to table it for at least part of this semester, that would free up some time -

Time that might be taken up by the X-Men/West Wing crossover surprisedbylife and I were working last year-ish. Yeah, I’m working through another partial West Wing rewatch, and I went back to the (33 page!) document, and I had forgotten how much I love it - it has possibly some of my favorite writing of mine. Like just look - 

Stryker hands the president the next page from the briefing memo, an image of the entrance to a long driveway, bordered by two pillars, one with a plaque - “This is a school.” He says, and the others all look up. “‘Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters’ - now, I didn’t know that we were still using the word ‘youngsters’ seriously these days, but, Colonel Stryker, I don’t see that that’s any reason to classify them as terrorists.”

Senator Kelly, he notes, looks pleasantly surprised, while the Colonel is flustered. “Sir-”

“Are there any other words that mutants aren’t allowed to use, Colonel? Perhaps ‘rights’? Are we deciding that we can skip the First Amendment on the basis of genetics?”

He looks up at Leo, and finally stands back up. “I don’t like Stryker. I don’t like people who use the phrase ‘the mutant problem’. The ‘mutant problem’! Hundreds or thousands of men and women, and we label them all a ‘problem’. Huh. And we wonder why things like this -” he jabs a finger at the desk. “happen!” He finally stops pacing. “But, god, Leo, a military jet under a basketball court? What are they thinking?” When Leo doesn’t respond, he turns to look out one of the windows.

LIKE COME ON tell me that’s not awesome. Bartlet is one of the few characters where I feel like I have a really good handle on writing in his voice, which is what watching four seasons of a show a dozen times or so will do to you. (I’m pretty good at Leo and Toby too) It’s very well planned out and has a lot of great ideas, due in no small part to Izzy (there are timelines and everything! 33 pages of notes!) And I really think it deserves to see the light of day in a fully fledged form. It’d be a crossover with X-Men United (the second AND LAST of the so called trilogy), basically the product of the eternal ‘yes but this would be better if Bartlet were the president’ that happens whenever I watch any movie with the American president. 

Anyway. That’s life inside squire’s brain. If you’ve got thoughts on my thoughts, hit me with ‘em! 

[goldenegg31]

so in a Tortall modern!AU, Thayet would basically just be Michelle Obama, right?

[narcolepticangel]

Miss pensandpearls tagged me and luckily she missed a few people I know in real life! (I prefer not to send these to followers I don't personally know) So here we go:

Rule 1: Always post the rules

Rule 2: Answer the questions the person who tagged you asked and write 11 new ones

Rule 3: Tag 11 people and link them to the post

Rule 4: Actually tell them you tagged them.

1. Which would you rather live without - electricity or indoor plumbing?

I could live without electricity- I'd read and draw and paint and cross-stitch. My family is basically preparing for the apocalypse anyway. 2. What would you name a daughter if you had one? A son?

Helena Valentine for a girl, and Alexander for a boy. 3.  If you were stranded on an island populated by only one type of animal, which type would you want it to be? (Bear in mind that you might be forced to eat the animals periodically in the absence of other protein sources.)

Oh god- way to ask the vegetarian's nightmare question...Wait. Yeast. I could make beer and like bread. Ha-HA! 4. Which -ism would you erase from the face of the planet, if forced to choose only one?

Sexism. They're all connected anyway, but it's just so stupid and it still hasn't died out which I don't understand. I believe that as globalization continues, we'll all eventually be brown so racism will die out- and classism is terrible but can be overthrown by a revolution.  5. What is your favorite type of cheese?

Cheese that is in front of me and I can eat. Except blue cheese. 

6. If money were no object, would you ever consider cosmetic surgery? If so, what would you change?

Maybe? Maybe my hips so I could take pressure off my knee and walk better....does that count as cosmetic? 

7. When looking for a romantic partner, do you have a “type?” What is it? 

Sweet, kind, intelligent, and funny. If someone is cruel, I can't date them. 8. If you were offered an all-expenses-paid vacation to any habitable continent on the condition that you had to visit every country on that continent, which would you choose and why?

Europe, because there's such a huge range of cultures! And I can eat most of the food. 9. Do you prefer zoos or aquariums?

Aquariums! Fishies! Octopi! SEALS!

10. If you could chose any fictional character to fall in love with you, who would it be and where would you go for your first date?

Hmmm....Faramir, and a cafe because he'd do the WAOH TECHNOLOGY thing and it'd be super cute.

11. Which five languages do you wish you could speak?

Spanish, German, Chinese, Navajo, Bird.

Questions for peeps!

1. If you had to live anywhere outside of the US, where would you live?

2. Hit shuffle on your iTunes or music player. What song comes up and why is it in your library?

3. What was the last thing you did for fun?

4. If you could cook one thing perfectly every time, what would it be?

5. Hot or cold weather?

6. Books or eReader?

7. Why did you get a Tumblr?

8. What exotic creature would you like as a pet?

9. What's your favorite summer food?

10. What is your favorite kind of tea?

11. If you could only watch three movies for the rest of your life, what would they be? (you can count sets as one item, so I suppose that includes TV shows too)

Have fun!

[goldenegg31]

I got tagged by @squireofgeekdom, pensandpearls, and surprisedbylife so lots of info below the cut! :)

Rule 1: Always post the rules  Rule 2: Answer the questions the person who tagged you asked and write 11 new ones  Rule 3: Tag 11 people and link them to the post  Rule 4: Actually tell them you tagged them.

Questions squireofgeekdom asked:

1. Something you love that not enough people have heard of.

Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy and his short stories. 

Also, I feel like Tumblr should know about Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber? Because there are large parts of it that are basically a bunch of Lokis all jockeying for power and it's got pretty good worldbuilding, from what I remember. 

2. The last thing that made you laugh out loud.

So I was rereading part of Return of the King last night and there's a bit when Aragorn first comes to heal Faramir, Eowyn, and Merry and one or two of the healers are very long-winded and it's a pretty funny scene.

3. That one ship you never thought you’d ship but that now gives you all the feels. 

Aurora/Mulan (Sleeping Dragon), in Once Upon A Time

4. Your ‘happy music’

Concerning Hobbits

5. Favorite comfort food

my Mom's homemade challach

6. Goofiest purchase you’ve made recently

I haven't really bought myself anything goofy recently, but I was given this for my birthday two weeks ago...

7. Favorite cartoon.

Avatar the Last Airbender. although honorable mention definitely goes to Rugrats

8. What superpower would you want, if you could choose?

Probably teleportation, since that would be really useful on a day-to-day basis. But the ability to speak all languages is really tempting too.

9. What fictional universe do you most want to live in?

Probably original Star Trek or Diane Duane's Young Wizards? Because as much as I love fantasy, I wouldn't want to give up indoor plumbing. I'd also want to live in a mostly-optimistic universe and those fit the bill. 

10. Favorite crossover you’ve ever read/want to read.

11. Who would you want to pilot a jaeger with?

Probably my aunt Nancy because our brains work in a pretty similar manner, so I think we'd drift well together. She always thought I should be a lawyer because I could change her mind about anything and at one point I told her it wasn't because I was good at arguing, it was because I knew how she thought. But we're both pretty scatter-brained, so I'm not sure I'd trust us to pilot a jaeger....

Questions pensandpearls asked:

1. Which would you rather live without - electricity or indoor plumbing?

Electricity.  2. What would you name a daughter if you had one? A son?

I have no idea, to be honest. I know I want their middle names to be my grandparents' names, but most of my grandparents had rather old-fashioned names and I wouldn't want to use them as a first name. I also know I want their initials to spell out words because my initials are EGG and my dad's are RAG and it's a cute family tradition. 3.  If you were stranded on an island populated by only one type of animal, which type would you want it to be? (Bear in mind that you might be forced to eat the animals periodically in the absence of other protein sources.)

If I might have to eat them? Chickens. 4. Which -ism would you erase from the face of the planet, if forced to choose only one?

This is really tough, but probably racism. 5. What is your favorite type of cheese?

Brie! We always used to have it at senior wine and cheese, so in addition to loving the taste, it always brings back fond memories. 6. If money were no object, would you ever consider cosmetic surgery? If so, what would you change?

Not that there's things I don't like about my appearance, but I don't think I'd have cosmetic surgery. 

7. When looking for a romantic partner, do you have a “type?” What is it? 

I don't really know? On TV, I generally prefer lean guys with dark hair, but my last crush had sandy-colored hair. I do find light blue eyes that are a little green really attractive (my last crush had pretty much the same eye color as Tom Hiddleston and it was so pretty). 8. If you were offered an all-expenses-paid vacation to any habitable continent on the condition that you had to visit every country on that continent, which would you choose and why?

I'm pretty cautious, so this rules out Asia, Africa, and South America, even though I do want to go to those continents. But having to go to, say, North Korea or Columbia scares me. And there's a few countries in Europe and Asia that are pretty anti-Semitic, so I'd probably say North America, even though I'm from the US. Also, I've travelled around Europe, but I've never been to Mexico and only have been to Canada once, so traveling around North America would be really fun. I also really want to see more of the US - one of the things on my bucket list is going to every baseball stadium. 9. Do you prefer zoos or aquariums?

Uh, zoos, I guess? Now I'm trying to remember the last time I went to either... 10. If you could chose any fictional character to fall in love with you, who would it be and where would you go for your first date?

Faramir, from LOTR. He's cute, intelligent, a bit romantic, and I think he'd be ok with my sense of humor. First date would be an art or natural history museum - I like history museums more, but those would give us more time to talk (aka I wouldn't want to read ALL the signs).

11. Which five languages do you wish you could speak?

(in no particular order)

Hebrew: being able to read the Torah  and understand what I was saying without looking at the English translation would be amazing

Yiddish: a lot of Jewish history that gets taught is Zionism and the Holocaust and that glosses over the vibrant Ashkenazi culture. I guess we talk about how that culture got destroyed, but not what was actually destroyed. My family is Ashkenazi and I think Yiddish is as much a part of our heritage as Hebrew

I'd like to be able to speak Spanish and Chinese because I think they would be really useful languages to know

and probably Elvish because I'm a giant LOTR nerd 

questions surprisedbylife asked:

1. What is a fondly remembered book/cartoon/movie from your childhood?

You're asking me to pick just one? Ella Enchanted - all I have to say is that this is the only book other than LOTR that's been my favorite book 

2. Name a character you never expected to love as much as you do. 

Boromir. the first few times, my Boromir feels were hugely overshadowed by my Faramir feels, but even though I still like Faramir better, I have all the Boromir feels (as recordsofme of me can attest, since she was the recipient of my ranting a few weeks ago when we marathoned all the LOTR movies in one day. it was awesome)

3. What book do you think you’ve read the most number of times?

If you've read this far, I'm pretty sure you can guess (hint: it's by J.R.R. Tolkien)

in the interests of not making this just LOTR, runners-up would be Neverwhere and Good Omens

4. What is your favorite article of clothing? 

I don't generally wear jewelry, but I have a necklace made of murano glass that I got in Venice that I love

5. What is one movie that “everyone has seen” that you’ve never seen? (Or a thing everyone knows that you don’t know?)

I haven't actually seen that many James Bond movies. Or Spider-Man 2.

6. If you could live anywhere, where would it be? 

London. I studied abroad there and fell in love with the city.

7. Raincoat or umbrella?

umbrella

8. Do you collect anything? What? 

I collect magnets from all the places I visit. 

9. Are you a dog person or a cat person?

DOG

10. What is your favorite season and/or weather? 

Spring because there are flowers and it's not too hot or cold.

11. What character (from anything) would you most like to hang out with?

Steve Rogers because he's from Brooklyn, like my family, and I'd love to hear about growing up there. Also, at the end of the first Captain America movie, he's able to identify a random game he went to years earlier in a minute and I want to go to a baseball game with him because I am a giant Mets fan. 

Questions for people I'm tagging:

1. Do you have any siblings? What about pets?

2. Favorite ice cream flavor

3. What's the best vacation you've been on?

4. Name a time something's lived up to your expectations.

5. What's one thing you like about your appearance?

6. Favorite Disney character or song

7. Driving, walking, or public transit?

8. Coffee or tea?

9. Favorite type of flower

10. If you could work 40 hours a week at your dream job or work 1 hour a week at a job you hate and make the same amount of money, which would you choose?

11. Who was your favorite fictional character as a kid?

I'm tagging recordsofme, hermioneclone, noncommittal-shrug, misskusakabe, a-rhombus, stormlucas, faethena, regionsofkindness, lannagirl93, lynneelu, inexplicablesmithie

[narcolepticangel]

I got tagged in a question thing, but literally everyone I can think of on Tumblr got tagged by surprisedbylife, so I'll just answer without tagging people.

What is a fondly remembered book/cartoon/movie from your childhood?

Teen Titans~ probably the root of my current love of superheroes.

Name a character you never expected to love as much as you do. 

The Sherlock in Elementary. I was very much a BBC Sherlock person, but his character growth and struggles have really grown on me. I love him and Joan Watson and Moriarty and the relationship they have with the police department. It's a good show.

What book do you think you’ve read the most number of times?

Oh god....probably Lord of the Rings, I've read it about once a year for a while....maybe Good Omens, I can't remember how many times I've read it.

What is your favorite article of clothing? 

Dresses! Pretty dresses~ I have like 20 don't make me choose one!

What is one movie that “everyone has seen” that you’ve never seen? (Or a thing everyone knows that you don’t know?)

Uhhhhh Psycho?

If you could live anywhere, where would it be? 

Switzerland or any of the worlds of Diana Wynne Jones or Diane Duane.

Raincoat or umbrella?

Snazzy rain hat (which Izzy bought me <3) and trench coat!

Do you collect anything? What? 

Tea types- I have a "tea shrine" with many many varieties.

Are you a dog person or a cat person?

Very much a cat person.

What is your favorite season and/or weather? 

Spring. I love autumn too, but there's something so invigorating about having warm breezes and sun and new growth!

What character (from anything) would you most like to hang out with?

Ohh this is tough.....Howl and Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle, shhh let's pretend they count as one (two of my cats are named Calcifer and Sophie incidentally). 

[ziyal]

surprisedbylife replied to your post:ok but really why is shirogane allowed to make 12...

I feel like there’s probably a lot of anime that works better if you age characters up a few years… Also I never watched enough of that show to register that /he’s only 15??/ (Though… if he were older, it’d only be creepier…?)

well he says "i'm a high school student" so i was just guessing, based on the fact that he looks about the same age as ichigo and the rest, but i just looked it up and apparently he was in fact 15, with ichigo being 12/13

although in the dub they changed her age to 15/16 i think?

everyone in this anime is super young idk. magical girl shows can be like that.

[ziyal]

surprisedbylife replied to your post:surprisedbylife replied to your post:also it’s...

Yup. That’s a fair summary of the scale I’m using. “I can’t believe it took me this long; now I can’t unsee (unhear) this.” (I knew neither James-is-Kaiba nor Meowth-is-Grandpa, which makes it doubly strange.)

James and Kaiba guy (Eric Stuart) was also Brock ?!? that i never would have guessed

I knew about Meowth and Grandpa because i found out that that voice actor was actually a trans woman and i was like !! her name was maddie blaustein and she played both male and female roles, cool stuff

[ziyal]

surprisedbylife replied to your post:also it’s only while putting together the artists...

This is just about one step below Eomer-is-Bones…

one step below on the ranks of what, like, "i can't believe it took me this long to realize that"? because that is what i'm feeling right now