splintergirl

I think that was my favorite line in the movie. Good ol' Dumbledore, always one for the bon mot. And with that ginormous clue, if you have to ask "What movie?" then I suspect we're not actually friends. (Granted, there are a few people I like who are not fans of the kind of books and movies I like best, but it's a pretty limited set of folks.)

Anyhow, I liked the movie just as much when I saw it today as I did the first time, yesterday. Of course they had to leave whole heaps of things out, but I found I didn't miss them much, because the stuff that was left in moved along nicely. I really felt sorry for Draco, which I never have before, either in the books or the previous movies. And my love for Snape continues unabated. I'm looking forward to the last movie, although NOT looking forward to the frenzied insanity I fear will surround it. I wonder if they'll do a HP Marathon, like they did with LOTR....how cool would that be? I'd absolutely take a vacation day (or two) to see the HPs all back-to-back!

Most of the previews didn't thrill me (the one for 2012 seemed particularly ridiculous, and if I go see that movie except at the point of a gun, you may feel free to mock me) but there were two I am looking forward to -- Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes, and Jude Law as Dr. Watson, and a live-action version of Where the Wild Things Are. I hadn't heard anything about either movie, and both of them look like they'll be good. Here's hoping!

Oh, and there was a poster in the theater lobby for Alice in Wonderland, with Himself looking beautifully creepy, all orange hair and bleeding fingers and lime-green eyes. CANNOT wait for that one, I tells ya!

On a less fanciful, but no less pleasant note, I picked 5 pounds of green beans, 2 pounds of cherry tomatoes, and 5 heirloom tomatoes from the garden last night. Dinner tonight = tomato sandwiches, and green beans are roasting in the oven now for tomorrow's lunch. Who needs love's keen sting when one has garden-fresh veggies?

I had insomnia last night. Bleah. Since I didn't have to get up and go to work today, I gave into it. Eventually I went back to bed and fell asleep.....only to wake up *BING* at 6 a.m. just like always. I repeat: bleah.

Fortunately, the only things I have planned today are 1) watch the Tour and 2) go see Harry Potter. Now I just need to figure out where to fit a nap in between those two things...

Bleah.

Had a nice evening, with a nice dinner and a nice bottle of wine enjoyed with nice people. It was nice.

It took about an hour for the niceness to break through the BITCH I've been all afternoon. In my best possible passive-aggressive way I accused my hubby of being passive-aggressive, when I knew all along he was just trying to stay out of my (BITCHY) way.

See, the thing is -- although the evenings and the dinners and the people end up nice, I always envision the worst beforehand. Rain, even though it never rains in CA in the summer. Burned food, even though I have a working timer and know how to use it. Incompatible guests, even though they are friends and family. GAH

Anyhow, it was a nice evening. ('Specially the wine.)

Brice and Romain Feillu, after the Andorra Arcalis stage. (They showed Romain crossing the line about half an hour after his younger brother, and he was crying then, too...)

http://nl.tinypic.com/player.php?v=2n6g002&s=3

I love this kind of stuff!

Title: The Monkey's Tale
Author: Splint
Rating: G
Word count: 100
Characters/pairings: "Jack"
Notes/warnings: That's one angry monkey...
Feedback: Always welcome.

( The Monkey's Tale )

Title: Alternative Ending
Author: Splint
Rating: I don't know, PG13 maybe?
Word count: 100
Characters/pairings: Elizabeth/Governor Swann/??
Notes/warnings: Governor Swann never saw this coming...
Feedback: Always welcome.

( So Elizabeth says to her father... )

( woohoo! )

Dang, I love to watch the Tour, and I think Phil Liggett is sexy. Is that wrong of me?

Yes, both the quiz and the books are random...

http://www.mentalfloss.com/quiz/quiz.php?q=669&p=1


( My score. )

I have a half told tale stuck in my head, and it keeps repeating the first part over and over and won't let me see how it ends. I hate when that happens! So I'm leaving it to simmer overnight and maybe it will come to me in my dreams.

( Public Enemies Review & Possible Spoilers )

I read a wonderful book today, one I recommend highly: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It's sweet and smart and just carries you along with the story/stories, Although there are no real ahas, there are quiet moments, beautiful moments where I wanted to be in the story. Definitely one of the best things I've read this year!

Six hours until I escape the office for a fun pre-wedding luncheon with some friends. (Not my pre-wedding, of course, given that we celebrated our Silver-Minus-One Anniversary on Monday.)

Twelve hours until I escape the office for a three-day weekend. Floating holidays are your friend when you have no accumulated vacation hours!

Forty eight hours until the Tour begins (more or less). SO looking forward to it! I've adored the Tour de France since I first learned about it in French Class in 7th Grade (Bonjour, Monsieur Jackson!) and thought it was the coolest thing. I lived on a tiny, flat island at the time, where bicycles were nearly the sole mode of transportation, and the thought of people riding for DAYS over MOUNTAINS and through CITIES just blew my provincial little mind. I'm still smitten today.

Ninety days (more or less) until the Snow Patrol concert! I continue to live by the adage "If it's too loud, you're too old!" and there is nothing like a good loud concert to blow the cobwebs out. Still and always my favorite mode of de-stressing.

Thirty seconds until I need to be in the car leaving for work. Bye all!

Title: Overwhelmed
Author: Splint
Rating: O for Obsessive
Word count: 100
Characters/pairings: Djinn/you
Notes/warnings: ABH, anyone? “Let's do the time warp again...”
Feedback: Always welcome


It's back, that relentless whisper inside your head. “Mine!”

You remember trying fruitlessly to ignore it, trying to drink and fight and fuck it away, and you remember never succeeding.

When it finally fell silent, so many years ago, you tried to celebrate its absence but, again, drinking and fighting and fucking seemed hollow and useless. You knew he was dead, for he had no surrender in him.

So now it's back. He's back. It's just a matter of time before he's looming over you, all black leather and tangy scent, overwhelming your senses.

You silently reply, “Yours.”

Even though I was at work for 11 1/2 hours (and tack on a 45-minute commute to either end of that) today went by really fast. I had so much to do, and didn't get half of it done. I go home at night with my desk a mess, and don't even ask about the filing that's sitting around in piles, unfiled... But I love my job, even if it is soooo hard and soooo stressful much of the time. I'm using parts of my brain that I haven't used in a couple of years, and little by little, conversation by conversation, I'm making a difference.

Still -- I hope I can sleep tonight, because that insomnia shit is for the birds!!

Gah. It's now 4:10 a.m. I've been awake since 2:50 a.m. I have to get up and go to work in just a couple of hours.

I really feel for the chronically insomniac. I only suffer through this a couple of nights a months (hormones can be fun!) but I know there are people who are too well acquainted with watching the clock tick over for hours every night, who make the best of things by being productive at 3 a.m., who only need 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night. I need, and truly enjoy, 7 or 8 hours of sleep. I love snuggling down into the sheets and blankets, squishing the pillow just right under my head, and drifting off. I don't even mind waking up several times a night, as long as I can go back to sleep.

Tomorrow's going to be a long day, I fear!

Title: Friggin' in the Riggin' (props to pearlseed for the title phrase)
Author: Splint
Rating: NC17
Word count: 100
Characters/pairings: Just Jack
Notes/warnings: Smut. Pure and simple. Which smut, delightfully, so often is.
Feedback: Always welcome.

( Here be smut. )

Cross posted to potc100

I had to have an eeg/ekg (can't remember which it was) on Friday and when the nurse told me to take my watch off so the machine didn't think I had two hearts, I thought "No, I'm not a Time Lord."

I restrained myself from saying it out loud, however.

(And I'm totally fine, by the way. One heart, beating like it's supposed to.)

New Doctor Who, new Doctor Who! Have I been under a rock or something, not to know that there was new Doctor Who coming today on BBCA? Evidently! So I am happy, and don't have a single idea about what's ahead!

(Of course, 6 minutes in I'm not loving the New Doctor. I adored Christopher Eccleston's Doctor, and David Tennant I adore equally, so this guy has a couple of tough acts to follow.

Perhaps he's not a permanent new Doctor? Ah, I love having no spoilers in my brain for this, and I'm not actually a person who minds spoilers.)

New Torchwood is coming soon, too, and I do love me some Captain Jack Harkness.

On another note, what is it about Captains named Jack that gets me all lusty and worked up? Must ponder...

Later.

Right now, I must Doctor Who.

( Edited to add: possible spoiler... )

Okay, this won't be smutty, but I'm sitting here drinking beer on a warm Nor Cal evening, composing Jack Sparrow smut in my head.

Life is good.

Title: Three Beauties
Author: Splint
Rating: I for Insomniac
Word count: 100
Characters/pairings: Barbossa/?
Notes/warnings: For the DESIRE challenge. Cross-posted to potc100
Feedback: Always welcome.


Barbossa looked down at the beauties sitting quietly, awaiting his undivided attention. He had waited so long for his appetites to return that he hardly knew now where to begin.

The rosy blushes of the first were exquisitely tempting. He'd reached out a claiming hand when he noticed how smoothly unblemished was the skin of the second. He stroked his thumb gently across the sleek curved silhouette; there was no flinching from his touch.

In the end, the sweet-tart scent of the third overwhelmed him and he pounced. The apple's sweet juice flooded his tongue, and he moaned with ecstacy.

Things that make me happy -- aside from the obvious fannish things -- and in no particular order:

*The purple lace-cap hydrangea that's my view if I look up from this computer. It changes with the seasons, and I think it's always beautiful.

*The house finches that have a nest right outside my office window. They have a cheerful twittering song, and they are adorable to look at.

*Where I live: the house and the town and the state and the country.

*Finding a new author I love, and then finding out they've written 30 other books. LOVE that!

*Visiting art museums by myself, especially when I'm traveling for work.

*Traveling for work. Turns out, I loved it, and I really miss it with this new job that requires zero travel.

*Going out to the garden after work and eating the cherry tomatoes that just ripened today. Soon enough, they will be bountiful but right now I only get one or two a night and they make me so happy!

*The smell of the eucalyptus trees in Golden Gate Park.


What do YOU like?

Title: Swallow or Spit?
Author: Splint
Rating: PG
Word count: 100
Notes: Not sure where this came from, but the Silly!Muse is clearly hanging out at my house.
Feedback: Always welcome.


“Swallow...or spit? Ah, ah, ah, love!” He swayed back out of reach of her seeking tongue, “You know the rules, ye must declare beforehand.”

She twisted her soft lips in a growl. “You failed to mention the blindfold. Or the restraints!”

Jack grinned, and leaned in close. “You always cheat, so I'm just evenin' things out a little. Now which is it to be, swallow, or spit?”

“Fine. I'll swallow. But no more oysters, agreed?”

Jack grinned as he waved the tankard of rum under her nose. “Just swallow, love, just swallow it all.”