Am watching Nana.

Nana/Hachi is blindingly obvious, y/y?

I really wish that Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni would be released as novels. Book-novels, I mean. Yes, I know that they are 'visual novels' already and I am not one of those 'video/computer games CANNOT BE ART' people, but I personally don't play video or computer games and would have little patience for the general When They Cry format based on what I know about it.

All right, something would be lost in that we wouldn't get the music and the little pictures of the characters, but IT WAS WRITTEN AS A NOVEL ANYWAY YOU JUST PACKAGED IT AS SOFTWARE JUST BECAUSE.

I WANT MAH BOOK RELEASE

RAAAAR

Just left the hospital. Took Sammy with me so he could see his Granddaddy and Nan and brighten the room a little bit. Dad made Sammy laugh as they "conked" each others heads and it was good.

I nearly cried as I gave Dad a kiss before I went home. It will be the last time I see him before he goes in to get sterilized for the big surgery.

I hate this whole being human thing. I think it sucks.

My poor mom is a mess. She hates being vulnerable and is so obviously that way right now.

Dad goes under the knife at 12n CST. Please, everyone, be sending your positive thoughts, prayers and vibes. I'm not ready to be without my dad yet.

Update on dad is that he's tired of people poking on him and not getting any rest, so they're moving him to a "regular" room and out of ICU for the time being, I believe starting tonight. Mom will be on her way to stay with him through the rest of all of this starting tonight.

He's still set to have the surgery on Thursday but we still don't know what time of day.

This is what we have as of 9am today when mom spoke to him last.

Okay, so I did read a good deal last year. This is (almost) all the books, including what I read to Matt and the manga.

( Behold the mighty cut! )

Now onto the awards

Best Fiction Book I Read This Year: 2666 by Roberto Bolano
Best Non-Fiction Book IRTY: Consider the Lobster and Other Essays by David Foster Wallace
Best Book IRTY that Doesn't Make Me Sound Like a Pretentious Twit: The Graveyard Book - by Neil Gaiman
Best Anthology IRTY: Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman
Best Book (Not From My Childhood) IRTY to Matt: Someone Bigger by Jonathan Emmett
Best Manga/Graphic Novel: Skip Beat - True Watchmen is probably better overall, but I had read it before.

Best Book that Made Me Reconsider the Author: Anathem by Neal Stephenson. I hated Cryptonomicon but I gave Anathem a shot and loved it. So I tried Snow Crash which was okay. I'm willing to try some more of his stuff now

Harry Turtledove Award for "Why Am I Still Reading This?: The Vatta's War series by Elizabeth Moon. She managed to make space opera dull.

Everyone Else Loved it But I Didn't: The Shack by William P. Young. I magnanimously gave it 2 stars because the author really means well. But he can't write and he can't break out of his own little christian paradigm.

Everyone Else Loved it But I Didn't (Sci-Fi/Fantasy): The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. It's okay, I suppose, but the characters did not have the style of Ocean's 11 and were all career criminals. There was no one to root for in this book.

Author Everyone Loves Who Didn't Impress Me: Charlaine Harris. Didn't read any of her novels, but several short stories were disappointing enough.

Worst Book: Kurohime Vol 1 by Kakatura Masanori - Pretty much every bad anime trope you can think of can be found here.

I didn't like it but you might: Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs. I kinda knew what I was getting into with this one, not so much a mystery as a procedural and lots of gory detail. Still, I felt the setting fell flat, but if you like CSI-esque stuff, it's worth checking out.

I heard from my stepmother today and it's not looking good. My dad has an enlarged and hardened liver and a tumor in one lung that has attached to the side. It looks as if the end is going to be soon. They will be having hospice people coming in, and I'd guess it will happen within the month.

My sister, brother and I are planning to go out there together to see him this weekend. Right now we're thinking that we will leave Friday and come back Tuesday or Wednesday.

In the meantime, I will be carrying on with my Celebrating Ten picspams (gotta have that distraction), but there will be a gap over those days.

Thanks in advance for your well wishes. I might not reply, but believe me, they are much appreciated and you are the best, all of you. *hugs*

I've meant to post a little... essay... Ross Bender wrote about seeing us at the Kimmel Center in December for Wagner. The first time Ross Bender wrote about us, I was somewhat mortified; it was long before our relationship was public, and he somehow, without realizing it, by simply using his rapier wit, sniffed us out.

And, if in doubt about the tone, it's meant to be very tongue in cheek.


( Cassidy's Purse )

I'd been hoping to get some photography in during the last week or so but didn't really. But finding my neighbors, the Axelrods, home on New Years eve and trillian_stars off figure skating, I jumped at the opportunity to stop slacking for an hour. pjschnyder had me thinking about Little Red Riding Hood already and when J.R. showed up in a red dress, getting the wolf suit out of the closet seemed obvious.


Nikon d700 and Tokina 28mm lens


Clickenzee to Embiggen to wallpaper size



And one with the new Panasonic Lumix GF-1 and the 20mm f 1.7 lens.


Clickenzee to Embiggen to wallpaper size



(#photonerd: Both of these are using a Photek Softlighter II (the giant one) and an sb800.)

Who knows what my neighbors think of me, tromping around the yard with body parts and wolves.

LJ gave me, (an every other paid/permanent account holder) ten half-off coupons for an lj paid account.

Here's how it works:

* You need to be a basic or plus user.
* The coupon will let you upgrade for one year for $9.95 if
you enroll in the automatic payment plan (like I'm going to be
a member from now on, bill me every year)

OR

* You can upgrade to a one year paid account for $15

(Normally the automatic-payment accounts are $19.95 and the one year plans are $25)

SO:

First ten people who respond to this post and ask for an upgrade coupon get one.

ALSO: If you're a paid/permanent account holder and you still have invites to give away please feel free to follow up in this post that you have extras.

(If you don't know if you have coupons to give away or know nothing about this, Instructions & info are Here in this news post.)


Inre the big lj-advisory post -- I still have questions about two of the items, and the u.s. staff is on vacation till next week, so I'm holding off on the post until I get some clarification.

happy new year folks.

(also -- if you're one of those etsy people who sell greeting cards or you work for a container importer, i'm looking for a source for hinged-lid (or something else clever and cool) card boxes in bulk (about A6 size and in quantities of ~500) something like this would be awesome. Drop me a line, there's a reward if you know of the right source.)

Title: War in Heaven

Summary: Doctor Who/Umineko no Naku Koro ni crossover. It involves Romana. There are probably spoilers for ‘The End of Time’ and potentially the later arcs of Umineko. Continuation of ‘Chain’.

Rated: PG, I guess?

Word count: 789

Warnings: As I said, spoilers. Also potential sapphic subtext.

Notes: Because this was one of the few things about ‘The End of Time’ that I consistently liked all the way through.

 

 

( Here )

2009 wasn't the difficult year for me that it was for so many of my friends; in fact, it was one of the most rewarding years of my life.

I've been acting consistently in satisfying, juicy roles, and I married my dear kylecassidy. 2009 was a good year and I kissed it goodbye knowing I'd always remember it fondly.



2009 was also the year we met so many incredible new friends -- I'm still amazed and delighted so many joined us for our post-wedding celebration. There are some (few) people you meet and sense an immediate bond -- there's no doubt in my mind but that we've met some life-long friends over the past year.

(taken by shadowcaptain)





I've a feeling 2010 will only get better, not just for us, but for you as well.

Happy New Year!

For ten years now, starting in 1999, I've taken a self portrait at midnight on new years eve -- the exposure starts one second before midnight and continues one second after midnight -- in there somewhere is the invisible change from the old year to the new and me a little older.

Here we are -- December 31, 2009 - January 1, 2010




(yagathai plays the werewolf.)



Add me as a friend on LiveJournal, Add me on Facebook, Follow me on Twitter.

Title: Chain

Summary: Doctor Who/Umineko no Naku Koro ni crossover. It involves Romana. There are probably spoilers for ‘The End of Time’ and potentially the later arcs of Umineko.

Rated: PG, I guess?

Word count: 591

Warnings: As I said, spoilers. Also potential sapphic subtext.

Notes: Because this was one of the few things about ‘The End of Time’ that I consistently liked all the way through.

 

( Here )