Living with Boys

I've been on another miniature painting binge, and thought I would share. In the last month, I finished -



Cinderella for the library Christmas tree (This is from the Reaper Miniatures fairy tale collection):




Hermione Granger (ordered from Hero Forge):




And Fawkes, the Phoenix (3-D printed by a friend who has their own printer):


The last two were made for a coworker who's just retired. Needless to say, she's a Harry Potter fan!

In your own space, resurrect an old meme.

I looked through the list, and played around with a couple of them (apparently I Write Like Stephen King--I'll take that!). But I decided to do the Music Playlist Shuffle: "Go to your favorite source of music that can be shuffled. Hit shuffle. Write down the first line of the first twenty songs that come up. When people visit your journal, they have to guess what the songs are. Strike through the ones that have been guessed with the guessers name at the end of the line.

Easy, right? I used my trusty iPod, which I've been filling with music for about 8 years now. I think you'll get some of these right off the bat. But if some seem a bit eclectic or obscure, well, it's because I've been throwing albums on the thing willy-nilly for most of that time. (In other words, I didn't know the lyrics to all of these, either!) I also skipped things that had their titles in the first line, and there are no artist duplicates.

UPDATE: I'm adding in the answers, for any curious readers out there. (For the artists, I'm listing the singer or group, rather than the songwriters)--

1) We are young, Heartache to heartache we stand jj564 & enemytosleep "Love is a Battlefield", Pat Benatar
2) I met you on somebody's island, you thought you had known me before Steve Miller Band, "Jungle Love"
3) Here it comes again, it's going to happen to me The Byrds, "Lady Friend"
4) Standin on the water, Castin your bread Bob Dylan, "Jokerman"
5) Clouds are on fire today, time has taken you away Steve Carlson, "Radio in my Head"
6) In the merry month of May from me home I started, left the girls of Tuom nearly broken hearted borgmama1of5 - "Rocky Road to Dublin", traditional, my version is from the Chieftans & The Rolling Stones
7) Hang out my window and over your head Matchbox Twenty, "Soul"
8) I'm not a savior and I'm not a saint, the man with the answers I certainly ain't. Johnny Cash, "Singer of Songs"
9) You sure know how to hurt a girl, fewer hugs and no more kisses The Go-Go's, "Skidmarks on my Heart"
10) How pale is the sky that brings forth the rain, as the changing of seasons prepares me again Alison Kraus, "Get Me Through December"
11) Hush now don't you cry, wipe away the teardrops from your eye fanspired - "Silent Lucidity", Queensryche
12) She said, Darlin, I'm in love with your mind, the way you care for me is so kind Richard Thompson, "I Misunderstood"
13) Everybody dance now! silveradept "Gonna Make You Sweat", C+C Music Factory
14) Well, I heard some people talkin just the other day The Eagles, "Already Gone"
15) Don't you worry bout what's on your mind, oh my The Rollings Stones, "Let's Spend the Night Together"
16) When I had you to myself, I didn't want you around fanspired "I Want You Back", Jackson 5
17) On the field I remember you were incredible The Killers, "Andy You're a Star"
18) I'm not content to be with you in the daytime jj564 "All Day and All of the Night", The Kinks
19) Right, right, turn off the lights, we're gonna lose our minds tonight Komadori "Raise Your Glass", Pink
20) There's a place up ahead and I'm goin, just as fast as my feet can fly Credence Clearwater Revival, "Up Around the Bend"
As I was writing these out, some of the lines seemed to connect in that weird way that sometimes makes me think that my iPod has a sense of humor. Hanging together, they don't make a good song or poem, but some of the lines almost comment on each other.

Or maybe that's just me. Any guesses?

In your own space, create a wishlist

-I'd love to have fanart for one of my stories, of course. Maybe for "You Can't Always Get What You Want"? This was my first fic, and centers on a sort of rivalry between the Mark of Cain and the Samulet. Here's the link: https://tyrsibs.livejournal.com/10479.html

-The mod post mentions a new fandom as a possibility, and that intrigues me. While SPN will always have my heart, are there other fandoms out there that might fill the hole it left? Recs would be great!

-Along that same line, any recommendations for great book series in the urban fantasy or high fantasy realms? I've almost caught up on Dresden Files, have read The Name of the Wind, and just started Seanan McGuire's October Daye series. I know there's a lot out there--what's your favorite?

-Recs for a fanfic Big Bang or challenge to attempt? I've participated in Spring Fling, Summergen, and the Reversebang in the Supernatural fandom, and I've set myself a goal of working on a new challenge this year. I write genfic, somewhat angsty, and I like to focus on the characters and creepy atmosphere. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance--I hope to talk to some of you about these rec requests!

Challenge #5: In your own space, promote a canon/talk about a part of canon that you love.

Of course, I could talk SPN, which I love, or Firefly, which created a beautifully realized 'verse in 14 episodes and a movie, but I find myself wanting to dig a little deeper and talk about the first canon that I fell hard for. The Nero Wolfe mysteries by Rex Stout.

I discovered them in junior high through a book called "Murder Ink", which was a sort of a fan friendly compilation of articles, interviews, trivia lists and glossaries about the Mystery genre. (If you're a mystery fan, I recommend this book and its companion, "Murderess Ink". Between the two volumes I found my first fannish worlds). Even then a completist, I searched out a lot of the books that were discussed, and eventually I made my way to Wolfe. The first book I found was "Murder by the Book", and I still remember that the plot blurb on the back started with "Wolfe risks Archie's neck" to solve the case. What? I had to know what that meant, and by the time I was done with that first book, I had to spend more time in Wolfe's brownstone. Lucky for me, Stout wrote about Wolfe and Archie for 41 years, beginning in 1934 with "Fer-De-Lance" and ending in 1975 with the Watergate inspired "A Family Affair."

Nero Wolfe gets top billing, and I suppose that's only right since he is the genius detective who solves the murders, but his assistant Archie Goodwin is equally vital to the novels' success. Wolfe is eccentric, strict in his daily routine but lazy when it comes to taking on new work, an overweight gourmand and orchid lover, a New Yorker with a mysterious past that began in Montenegro. In some ways, he's the epitome of a detective from the Golden Age of the Mystery in all of his habits and his Holmes-like ability to see connections that others miss. Archie, on the other hand, is streetwise and smooth with the ladies, intuitive, a man of action--more along the lines of the hardboiled American heroes of the same era. He narrates the books as well, in an economical and very funny voice that makes him very good company, indeed. One of my favorite descriptions of any character, anywhere, comes from Archie's assessment of one of Wolfe's longtime hired hands, Fred Durkin: "Fred was as honest as sunshine, but he wasn't so brilliant as sunshine." That sums up a lot of what you need to know about our Fred in 13 words.

Wolfe and Archie bicker and needle each other through their cases--in fact, Archie contends that the main reason Wolfe keeps him around is because Archie continually pressures him to work when he would prefer to spend time in the kitchen with his chef Fritz or up in his orchid rooms on the roof or just reading and drinking beer. They fight, but underneath all the irritation, each has absolute loyalty to the other. Their relationship is the backbone of the novels, the real reason to keep reading, though Stout also surrounds them with a memorable cast of side characters, and describes their world in comforting detail.
Wolfe's office is fully furnished in my imagination, and stands forever in a timeless version of New York, somewhere down West 35th Street.

Hmm-this is beginning to sound a little bit familiar---Maybe I have a type?

Challenge #3: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

In your own space, tell us who, from one of your fandoms, would you most want to have dinner with (or tea, or a random afternoon visit), And why? This could be a creator, an actor, a costumer, a set designer, a director, a character, a composer, anybody! What would you talk about? What are you dying to know?

Well, this is harder to answer than it should be, but the first name that popped into my head is Neil Gaiman. But I think it would only work if someone else was at the table with us, so that I could mostly just listen to his voice and nod along to his ideas about stories and gods, or about how the sky looked during his walk. (I can almost hear it now!)

If we are talking fictional characters and I'm wandering around the Supernatural world, I'd show up on Bobby Singer's porch, with the beer, and we'd sit in his dusty study talking lore until he got to reminiscing about the boys. Yes, in this scenario, we are old, trustworthy friends--

Day 1: In your own space, introduce yourself

To this end, I've updated my LJ Profile--here's what it says:

I'm a librarian in a Rocky Mountain state with two kids, two cats, and a husband who suffers my obsessions (and often acts as my beta) with varying degrees of patience.

I'm also a lifelong Fangirl. Every now and then, for inscrutable reasons, I find myself falling in love with something--a book series, an author's or actor's work, a tv show--and then I dive in headfirst trying to learn everything I can about it. My first fictional love was Archie Goodwin, Nero Wolfe's man of action and the narrator of Rex Stout's mystery series. I spent years hunting down copies of those books in used bookstores all over the country and read them over and over again. (This was long before the internet, let alone Amazon, made it almost too easy to find such things!) I have collected, lost, and re-collected the series over the years, though it has been a long time since I re-read one. Once I move on from something, I don't feel like I really leave it behind me or only view it nostalgically. Rather, it becomes a part of me, entangled in my imagination and world view,

Supernatural has my fannish heart, and at this point, I think it may keep it always. (Though I know there will be others--see above.) I started it at the end of library school, eight years ago, and honestly, I wasn't expecting much more than a good time. Quickly, though, the show's look, themes, humor and complex characters hooked me, and by the time I got to "Faith" in Season One, I was in love. I still love it, through all its changes, flaws and triumphs. And now that it's wrapped, I know that the fandom will change--but I still haven't figured out what that means to me.

Other geeky pastimes? Tabletop RPGs. Dungeons and Dragons and GURPS, specifically. My husband introduced me and it is our shared hobby. I even paint miniatures for gaming, and share them on my page from time to time. And I write fic sometimes, for Supernatural, of course. I'm enamored of the gaps between the episode stories, the stretchy nature of its storytelling, and all of the characters who need more stories told about them.I don't know whether another fandom will inspire me in the way this one has in the future, but now that I have a taste for it, who knows?

Who's doing this year's Snowflake Challenge on Dreamwidth? I'm going to try--

“Every seeker approaches the father on his or her own path.” Trust a reaper to take that piece of advice as unbreakable law.
OR In which Sam and Dean run an errand for the reapers, in order to help Jack with his mission to take out Chuck. It's just a quick trip to Purgatory to find a dragon's lair. What could go wrong? Set in between "Galaxy Brain" and "Destiny's Child".

This work was inspired by a lovely and mysterious piece by tx_devilorangel as part of 2020's SPN Reversebang. Check it out and give it much love! TxDorA's art sent my imagination off in a number of different directions, but I finally settled on this path thanks to my husband, who looked at the image and immediately said, "Purgatory!" He is my first reader and beta, so how could I refuse? The setting merged with the title of the piece, which is now the title of the story, and ultimately led here. So if you like it, you have TxDorA and my husband to thank--as I do.

Art Post: on LJ or AO3.

( Here's the story )

I put this together to sort of put Supernatural in the context of my life--looking at it now, it feels a bit self-indulgent, but I'm going to post it, anyway. Forgive me.

The show took over my life and plunged me into the online community. It also sparked my creativity, made me start writing again, well over 20 years since I graduated from college with an English/Writing degree. It even kickstarted our Geek Out programs at my Library, and gave me and my husband some memorable con-going trips.

We are so lucky to have had it for so long. Even more, we are blessed with a cast--Jared, Jensen, Misha, of course, but everyone else, too--who have given us so much of their time and treated us with respect and kindness. In spite of my tears today (yes, actual tears), I can't wait to see what they all do next.

That's all I want to say, really. I'm sure this feeling will come around again with the final chapter--just as I'm sure the Winchesters and Family will kick it in the ass.

Post 10 celebrities you have been in love with (had a crush on). One per day. No comment, just a picture. Then ask a friend to take up the challenge. I challenge anyone who wants to play. (I missed a day! So I'll post two today--here's the next "crush" in my own personal timeline.)



I've met him, in fact. Forgive me if I've told this story before. He was the guest speaker at the grand opening of our library's new building, six years ago. We were told by his people ahead of time to keep our distance, "no picture or autograph requests, please.". I was alone in the Reference office when our Foundation director brought him through on their way back from lunch. (It's sort of the back way to the admin area.). When he saw me, he stopped, and she introduced us. He said it was lovely to meet me. I stood up and said it was nice to meet him too, all the while seeing Leslie shooting me a look like she was afraid I was about to leap the counter between us to get closer. I settled for waving at him with both hands. Jazz hands.

Of course, he happily posed for pictures with staff later.

That evening at the packed reading he gave, every time he mentioned a different book, like Sandman or Americsn Gods, people would scream for it.

He's a true rock star author.