Beware: The Chibis Have Taken Control!

OK. Ever see one of those fandom/fanfic memes that you just know is going to turn into a monster of babbling that NO ONE will want to read through if you answer it, but you really want to answer it, anyway?

( List all the fandoms you have written in: )

( How many published fics have you written? )

( In terms of wordcount, in which fandom have you written the most? )

( At the moment, which one of your fics is your favorite/you are the most proud of? (you can include unpublished fics) )

( Which writer (fanfiction or not) inspires your own work? )

( What was your first fanfic about? )

( Out of all the characters whose POV you have written, which one do you feel you identify the most with? )

( What do you feel is your biggest challenge when writing? )

( Do you generally outline your fics or do you prefer to write spontaneously and then revise? )

( Which one of your fanfics has the most hits? the most comments? the most kudos? (if applicable) )

( What proportion, if any, of your fics are rated M or above (# of M-plus fics/ total # of fics)? )

( Finally, tease us with the title of one of your upcoming fics: )

tl;dr?

This was one of those memes. ;)

*clears throat* So... I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. I've been out of work now for about 16 months and my life is wildly different from what it was when I first went out on disability. I no longer have my own apartment. I have a gorgeous niece whom I adore. I'm back in school to pursue a new career. I have lost almost 70 pounds. I have made new friends.

And it all started because of Hair.

Don't run away! Hear me out. I promise, this is not more Hair babble. Not really, anyway. ^_^ *coughs* ( As a compromise, I'll place the self-realization babble behind a cut. Fair? ) What it all boils down to (for those of you who skipped the cut ^_~) is this: All of my big talk about getting involved for the last year+... it was all just lip service. I hadn't really done anything. Just sat at my computer and signed petitions. I'd stifled my own voice because I was afraid to use it alone. Enter Hair again. Gavin Creel (the Broadway Revival's first Claude), recently reminded us all that AIDS Walk New York is happening soon and this year, Broadway Impact is going to have a team. I watched him starting to raise money and boggled at how quickly people jumped on board to help. Then again... he really is that awesome. ^_~ I checked out AWNY's page and looked at the route map. I realized that it couldn't be more than 5 or 6 miles. I could do that. It wasn't so much, really. It was almost too easy.

I could do that. I can do that. And if I only raised $25 from my own mother... well, that's $25 going to a damned good cause. So, I signed up. To get involved. To help in whatever small way that I can. To do something to help someone else. To take the next step in creating my own happiness.

To use my voice.

To change the world.

So, I'm going to take a chance. I set an extremely modest fundraising goal for myself and I'd like to blast it the hell out of the water. So, I'm reaching out to all the social networks that I frequent and even risking a connect between LJ and real life to do it. If you think you can help out, even if it's only $5 or $1... please let me know. I'll send you a message with a link to the donation page. I'll put that faith out there in you not to abuse it.

And as an added incentive, I'm even willing to offer a reciprocal gift of sorts. How about we'll call it... a short fanfic of your choosing in any fandom for which I have written or am currently writing? Hell, I'll even consider revisiting Sailor Moon for a cause this worthy. ^_^ Not sure I write in a fandom? Ask. I may even be willing to consider a new one for this. ;) To be gifted to whoever among my LJ crowd donates the most money (...or any money, if I want to be realistic ^_~) towards my goal.

Sound like something you might be interested in? Let me know. We'll talk. ^_^

Thanks for listening.

From Broadway.com's article, http://www.broadway.com/shows/priscilla-queen-desert/buzz/155262/priscillas-will-swenson-has-his-eyes-on-sweetheart-audra-mcdonald-this-valentines-day/...

WILL SWENSON (Tick/Mitzi in Priscilla Queen of the Desert)

What Broadway show tune makes you swoon and why?
"Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer" from Cats. Hottest. Cats. Ever.

*dies laughing* You have no idea how much I enjoy that he can never seem to answer these things except with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek. XD

What are the ingredients for a perfect Valentine’s Day?
I don't know. But I think it involves a dash of paprika.

*snickers* And a dash of cumin, too, I think.

What character from any Broadway show could you fall in love with and why?
Anything played by the beautiful and talented Audra McDonald. What would it be like to gaze into those eyes and see love staring back at me? Oh, wait....

Aw... just... Aw! *_* Oh, Will. *chuckles* I bet you said this with a straight face, too. ^_^ Audra is one lucky girl, that is for sure. ^_^

And in weight loss news... I'm down another 1.8! *cheers* That puts me at 65.4 lbs. total loss. That means that I am less than 10 pounds away from the top of my healthy weight range. O_O;;; That means I set my "final goal" in my plan manager today. I'm... I'm actually kind of scaried about that. O_o;;; As my sister once said... "I know how to lose weight. I've been doing it for a year now. But maintaining weight loss? That's new... and scary." At the time I thought she was nuts. Now... I get it. I totally get it. O_O;;;

And dude... my orthopedist totally noticed I'd lost weight. I think he was more psyched about it than I even am. He couldn't stop telling me how great I looked. There is nothing better than having a gorgeous, successful guy tell you you look fantastic... over... and over... and over again. ;D Now if only I wasn't 80% sure he was gay... ;)

...

...

Oh... you're still here? What's that? You were waiting for my traditional yearly Valentine's Day rant? You know what? I'm too tired. And today was too damned gorgeous (60 degrees? Hell, yeah!!) to muck it up with ranting. So... no ranting for you. Not this year. ^_~ Savor this moment. Spread the love.

And Happy Birthday, Rusty... wherever you are. And since it's technically February 15th, now... Happy Birthday to you, too, Grandma. I miss you both.

*hugs and knishes*

☮ ♥ ♬♪ ^_^

As many of you know, I have gone back to school to get my Masters in education. Why is this important? I'll tell you. ^_^

( And for those of you who really don't care... a cut tag. )

Also, in the middle of all this going down, my mother finally found her old wooden peace sign that she used to wear in the 60s. She's been looking for it for me since... oh... February of last year? And she just randomly found it in her desk while she was looking for my credit card number so that I could call and cancel it. *_* And dude... it's gorgeous. Pictures to follow. ^_^

Really? My life never goes this well. Ever. I guess I've hit one of those synchronicity moments they talk about where everything just... goes right. ^_^ Well, let me tell you, universe... I was feelin' the love today and I thank you. Here's to more synchronous moments to come. ^_^

Warm weather.
The beach.
A reaffirmation of my faith in humanity.
My mother's peace sign.
Who could ask for anything more? ^_~

☮ ♥ ♬♪ ^_^

Edit (11:11 PM) -- Have the promised pictures of the hat and the peace sign. ^_^

( Enjoy! I know I will. ^-^ )

In other random news... I'm contemplating ditching my website. I'm just not sure the expense is paying off anymore. In fact, I think I may be the only person who actually reads my fanfiction on my website. O_o;;; Of course, the downside is, if I give up my website, I also have to let hairfanfiction.net go. :( Unfortunately, until I have more income, I'm just not sure I can afford to maintain even one, much less both. *sigh* Thoughts anyone?

*eyes tumbleweeds as they go rolling past*

Yeah... that's what I thought. *ponders*

My last paper is done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

^_^ Finals went very well and were, in fact, frighteningly easy. I was kind of excited by that. ^_^ Anyway, I handed in my one paper on Wednesday and the professor finally confirmed that she received it late last night (it somehow ended up in her spam folder O_o;;;) and I just shipped off the last one. I must say... I'm actually rather proud of this 25 page brute of a paper of mine. ^_^ Gender Identity Disorder is a fascinating subject and one which needs to be better understood. I think I did a pretty decent job of exploring it, but that's my wholly biased opinion. ^_^

*coughs* Anyhoo, that last paper puts a nail in the coffin of the semester. Now it's all over but getting the grades. ^_^

And in celebration, tomorrow I get to go into the city with zoicite to run around and look at all the pretty Christmas things, stare at all the lovely items in stores that I can't even come close to affording (except maybe a hat... I kind of think I need a winter hat O_O), eat dinner at my favorite French restaurant, Le Rivage (thank again, Mom!), and see a show. What show? Erm... I have no idea. ^_^ TKTS, baby. Whatever's available and cheapest. ^_^ I will also be attempting to teach my dear friend the layout of Penn Station. That... should be interesting. ^_^ Much fun to be had by all!!

In other news, I finally got my disability insurance guy the information that he claims he never received (in spite of fax confirmations to the contrary and the fact that when I pointed that out he "found" it in my file two seconds later). I swear... for the amount of this guy's work that I do, they should pay me a retainer in addition to my monthly check. :-P So, I should have a nice three-month backpay check in the mail as we speak. Also moving along on the other disability company that owes me money and when that gets in place, I should have about 6-9 months worth of backpay coming to me. In other words, I will soon be able to breathe a little more deeply again. I can't wait. I don't like financial stress. It kind of sucks.

Also, about the winter hat thing... OK, so weight loss is great. It's fantastic. I'm really glad that it's progressing so well. There's just one... little... thing. I'm freaking cold. All. The. Time. What the hell is that about? I don't get cold!!! *whimper* I'm a polar bear. My nickname has been "Nanook of the Frozen North" for as long as I can remember. Winter was kind of my favorite time of the year because it was the one time of the year that I wasn't hot. Now, I step out of my house, whimper, and immediately think... "Fuck, I wish it was summer." Seriously? WTF is that?? I sincerely hope my body readjusts before January/February when it gets really cold. 'Cuz, dude... massive suckage otherwise. ^_^ Although, I have to admit that it was really adorable when I complained of my head/ears/neck being cold outside and my mom pulled out my favorite hat (with pom-pom, ear-flaps, and chin ties, no less) from when I was a kid. The scary thing... it actually didn't look too bad on me. If it had been a little bigger... I might have even worn it tomorrow. ;D

Edit: (10:18 PM) And then to top it all off... there was home-made oatmeal apple crisp and milk. *_* Yummmm...

...I want to post the next chapter, but I think my niece got me sick (the week of my winter concert, too! :-P) and I'm just too damned tired. :( Maybe tomorrow. Or Thursday. Thursday sounds good. *falls over*

So... sometimes Twitter kind of sucks. I mean, other than all the obvious ways. It allows you to feel just close enough and just involved enough in another person's life that you occasionally feel their pain as if you have a right to, even if you aren't even passing acquaintances in real life.

Josh Lamon and James Reichel broke up. Things were all ooey-gooey sweet two days ago and they were planning Thanksgiving together.

And then yesterday we get this:
JRyanReichel James Ryan Reichel
Taking a break from Twitter as I put the pieces back together. Love you all so much.
21 hours ago

And then today we get this:
JoshLamon josh lamon
Not gonna lie. Difficult times at the moment. But a surprise visit from @vrayskull did make me smile. #littlethingscount
5 hours ago

And this:
JRyanReichel James Ryan Reichel
To address the 100's of tweets: Yes, Josh and I broke up. Yes, I am okay. No, I am not suicidal. Life goes on and already is. Love you all.
3 hours ago

I damn near cried.

I don't know James Reichel except from following him on Twitter. I don't know Josh Lamon except for meeting him once or twice through Hair and knowing that I made him happy once that I was writing a paper on a topic he felt was important. I know nothing about them as a couple beyond the unbelievably sweet Tweets they sent back and forth to each other on a near constant basis.

And yet I still almost cried when I found out they broke up. I don't know what happened and I doubt I ever will. I don't even feel right about wanting to offer sympathy because who needs that from some random girl you don't know when your heart is already sore? Who needs salt rubbed in that wound?

But still... I'm actually a little upset. And I feel stupid about it. And I wish I could give them both giant hugs or at least a sympathy Tweet.

...and I dread Broadway secrets this week. *sigh* I'm starting to hate that comm.

Bleh. Now I'll never get back on track with my fic. Stupid Twitter.

So... I just realized that I totally can't use my Twitter account to @reply to anyone who's an actor in Hair. There's an off-chance that that Twitter name could lead someone back to my e-mail account which, in turn, could lead someone to fanfiction I've written. Thus the "Aw, crap."

So... since I found out that I can in fact change my Twitter username, I think I will just do that. But what to change it to...? I sorta suck at picking usernames for myself. Thoughts, anyone? Anyone?

Bueller...?

Bueller...?

*tumbleweed rolls by*

Well, that's interesting. Apparently... Well. Apparently, the sequel to the Algea is a holiday fic. O_O I... I didn't realize that when I started writing it. *snerts* I've always wanted to write a holiday fic for the holidays... but I can never manage to get it done before Thanksgiving for posting in December. Go NaNo for inspiring me to finally do it! Two writing aspirations with one stone. ^_^

20,803 and still going strong for the day. And in another 203 words, I will officially be caught up and on track again. *snorts* And at the rate this is going, what are the odds that I'll stop at 203? *laughs* Yeah, I didn't think so either.

*idly notes* You know... it's rather hard to type when a kitty butt miraculously sprouts in your face.

^_^

Edit: 4:29 PM... I love my father. I absolutely love him. Deep in the holiday spirit and enjoying the autumn chill, I came over early for dinner with a purpose. And my father let me bully him into making a fire in the fireplace with hardly any effort at all. First fire of the season. *_* Bliss. Now I'm torn between sitting here and staring absently into the flames and actually doing some writing... *chuckles* Decisions, decisions. ^_^