Because nothing takes the Christmas spirit out of you quite like final exams. This makes me feel happier.

Step One

Make a post (public, friends locked, filtered...whatever you're comfortable with) to your LJ. The post should contain your list of holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fandom-related ("I'd love a Snape/Hermione icon that's just for me") to medium ("I wish for _____on DVD") to really big ("All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.") The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.

Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your LJ so that the holiday joy will spread.

Step Two

Surf around your friends list (or friends friends, or just random journals) to see who has posted their list. And now here's the important part: If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true. You needn't spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out, it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday elf---to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not-it's your call.

There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just...wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.


Wishes of the Fannish Sort -

1. I'd like some sweet, comforting, romantic fluff. I'm not picky in regards to pairings or even fandoms; I just want the warm fuzzies for Christmas.

2. Icons! I love icons!

3. Someone to talk to me about this Mirrorverse monstrosity. I'm seriously at a loss.

4. Fic recs! REC ME UP, BABY.

5. I'd love to see fic of a certain genre from a certain writer who swears she just doesn't DO said genre, even though she'd be awesome at it and because I'm selfish, I WANTS IT, PRECIOUS. You know who you are.

Wishes That are Less Internet-based -

1. I want to watch LotR (all three, extended edition) with someone that appreciates it. Food preferred, hot beverages a must.

2. NICK. I WANT MY VID. (No, he's not even on LJ, but he promised me a Star Trek fanvid, and after seeing him slap together a Casablanca fanvid, of all things...well. He promised me, and I'm so excited.)

3. Because I'm five...action figures. I really want a collection of action figures to represent all my fandoms: LotR, Star Trek, Firefly, Batman (not that I participate in this fandom, but I still love him and want action figures)... Action figures are awesome.

4. Discworld and Star Trek novels. Ye gods, I'm a geek.

5. Some art for my fics. This is my fan ficcer's dream. (Is this internet-based or not? I'm actually going to be bothered by this. Great.)

This is so fun. Post your wishes, you guys! You never know what wish might be granted!

I just got a prompt for a trek fic exchange in January. I don't know what I did to indicate I was the best candidate for this prompt, but...

This person wants some SEVERE McCoy whumping at the hands of Spock. Mind-rape kind of whumping. In the mirrorverse.

I...don't know if I'm that good at writing pain. Angst, yes, but for me the point of hurt/comfort is always the comfort at the end. And this prompt...yeah. They want, if anything, for it to go from bad to worse.

*is scared*

Anybody have any helpful thoughts or suggestions? I'll take 'em, and gladly.

D'you know what's great? Do you?

BBC television. That's what's great.

Now, I know that I'm a little behind on what the UK considers regular programming. Not only am I an American, I'm an American in a cultural desert. Things take a while to trickle down out here, when they trickle down at all. But whenever I see BBC programs (or programmes), I just get this warm, happy feeling inside.

Yeah, it's not all tea and crumpets. Occasionally, I watch something and either don't get it, don't like it, or just really think it's bad. But this happens hardly ever. Even television that by all rights and reason should be bad somehow...isn't. I mean, Merlin, anyone? Even the most die-hard of fans has to admit, the plot kind of never changes, and the legends are more or less beaten senseless and left in a puddle of historical inaccuracy to die a slow and painful death. Here's the thing, though: I FREAKING LOVE IT. Same thing goes with Robin Hood. (Which, while we're on the subject, Robin baby, when the nice lady says you can trust her? You can't. Just...heads up there, prince of the forest.) And trumping even the it-hurts-so-good bad/good shows are the OMGWHEREHASTHISBEENALLMYLIFEIWANTTOHAVETHISSHOW'SBABIES stuff. Interestingly enough to me, my favorites are all about old people. (Here in the U.S. of A., our protagonists are young, muscled, and have bone structures you can cut yourself on. Most of the time, they're also boring, annoying, or just flat bad actors.) Last of the Summer Wine? That is what good comedy looks like, kids. Foyle's War? One of the incredibly rare thrillers that I can't figure out fifteen minutes in. MI-5 (Spooks in the UK, I believe), Mock the Week, all of the epic classic literature mini series, Life on Mars, Top Gear... WHY SO AWESOME, BBC?

American television? Meh. Oh, we have our moments. Joss Whedon lives here, as does good ol' J.J. Abrams. But seriously, by and large, American T.V. is either reality (gag), rehashed plots and characters (hello, Days of Our Lives 1997), or, and here's the great part...stolen from the BBC. Yeah, they had The Office and Life on Mars first. And those are only two on a long, long list.

My mom and I went DVD hunting the other day, looking for a few gifts. She picked up a case of a show I'd never heard of, passes it to me, and says, "This looks pretty good."

"Really?" I said. "It looks kinda..."

"It's BBC," she interrupted.

And that's pretty much all the proof we needed.

Stay awesome, BBC. Stay awesome.

I think this is kind of an interesting question, but I would also like to point out that the two options in the first sentence are actually the same thing.

This has been a Grammar Nazi alert. We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

If there were awards for procrastination, I would win them all.

In other news, today on my drive to work, I was behind this van. It was a Voyager van. Its license plate read "Vejer". There was also a small alien sticker.

THIS PERSON WINS AT LIFE.

There is a group singing behind me. I am simultaneously frightened and amused.

French is hard. So is sculpting polymer clay.

I have donuts. I am happy about this.

Because I clearly don't have anything more important to do.



This is a collaborative effort to create a Star Trek musical parody. If you can sing, act, write music, make graphic art, know tech like the back of your hand, or just want to cheer on everybody else, YOU SHOULD COME JOIN US AT st_musical. It's going to be so very, very epic. I cannot wait.

This looks like too much fun to pass up! Ganked from ccalcarbonate.

Give me the title of a story I've never written, and feedback telling me what you liked best about it, and I will tell you: the first sentence, the last sentence, the thing that made me want to write it, the biggest problem I had while writing it, why it almost never got posted, the scene that hit the cutting room floor but that I wish I'd been able to salvage, or something else that I want readers to know.

Ooooooh, yeah. So. I signed up for a prompt at this comm called trek_exchange. The prompt I got was horrible, in a fourteen-year-old songfic sort of way. But enough about that. I requested a crossover fic that's been lurking in the plotbunny corner of my mind since I saw the new Star Trek.

The Enterprise and the Serenity should meet, y'all.

And Scotty and Kaylee should make sweet, sweet, engineering-euphemismed love. And Mal and Kirk should bond over their crazy gun-slinging ways. And Simon and Bones should be grumpy and try to out-professional each other to death. And Spock and River should circle each other warily, River being all genius-y and telepathic, and Spock being, "This chick is amazingly intelligent and somehow UNDERSTANDS ME (and there is a small moment of emo!Spock with some black eyeliner and a lonesome guitar riff), but OMGSHE'SSOCRAZY!!"

And somebody delivered.

celebros, the darling, has written a crossover for the ages. I know I made the request, but generally speaking, I hate crossovers. Very rarely are they done well; this is the best exception to that rule I have ever seen. Both canons really shine through without belittling or violating each other, the characterization is beautiful, and the interactions are so perfectly written, it's like watching the actual shows. It is amazing. celebros has promised me more (excuse me while I die of fangirl squee), including more Spock and River, Mal and Kirk, Scotty/Kaylee love, Simon and McCoy, Jayne and Cupcake (YES, JAYNE AND CUPCAKE. WHO IS ACTUALLY NAMED GERRY.), and wait for it, wait for it...

River and Chekov being young geniuses together, and possibly dancing Russian ballet.

WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE? RUN, DO NOT WALK! Or, you know, click. Turn of the 'Verse

My characters aren't speaking to me.

To be fair, they aren't technically my characters. But that's never been a problem in the past. Right now, though, the whole lot of them (and there are quite a few, let me tell you) are giving me the cold shoulder. Even dear Sam Gamgee, my standby, the one character that ALWAYS talks to me, is being slightly guiltily and apologetically standoffish.

It's not a lack of plot bunnies AT ALL. If anything, I have too many of them. In the past three days, I've worked on two separate LotR fics, done some preliminary sketch/outline work on the Merlin fic I'm rewriting to make better, written random lines that MUST go into my planned Harry Potter fic (does anyone else use this method?), and asked more "what if" questions in the Star Trek verse than can possibly be healthy. I have time, I have plot bunnies, I have endless supplies of iced tea...

AND NO ONE WILL SPEAK TO ME.

Everything comes out in an awkward, stilted Ashlee voice instead of Estella, or Merry, or Merlin, or Draco, or Spock. And even when I have a plot bunny (MUST...WRITE...MINDMELD...FIC), I'm having so much trouble getting into character's heads, the plot goes nowhere. "The Quiet Hobbit" is practically written for me, for crying out loud, but I still can't get anyone to behave.

Does anyone have any ideas for appeasing my distanced cast? Anyone? Anything? I need some serious help.

New layout courtesy of tasha, banner by me.