Thank you all for your birthday wishes! I did a whole lot of nothing for my birthday, which is pretty much exactly what I wanted to do. Sharon made me lunch on Friday and I stuffed myself silly on meatballs. Why do we need spaghetti? I think that meatballs in a rich tomato sauce is perfectly acceptable as a meal in itself. Then I met up with some friends and went to an outdoor show for a band I've seen before but care nothing about! Whatever, it was fun. I got to see people I haven't seen in a while, which was nice. Saturday I stayed home and ate junk food and wrote hours of porn with artisticmuddle and discussed Pete/Patrick fic that should exist with mwestbelle. And then today, more of nothing. All in all, not bad.

( Nobody wants to hear you sing about tragedy~ )

nearlycloudy! I have about 1500 words of Bob/Ray written for you and more to come. I'm just taking a break~ at the moment. When I'm done with that, I have some Patrick/Mikey to write for alternatekeys. I'm so slow, you guys. It's coming, though! I have far too many ideas in my head that would be lengthy and plotty to get down and I just don't have the energy at the moment, so I'm trying to stick to some shorter stuff and not get stressed out about it and this is a good way to get back into the groove. We'll see how it goes. It will help greatly when I get my laptop back and it was allegedly shipped back yesterday, so soon!

Love to you all. ♥

Title - "The Truth Is That I Could Not Want It More"
Author - runthegamut
Pairing - Patrick/Mikey
Rating - NC-17
Word Count - 1697
Summary - Last May I posted "And It All Breaks Down At the Role Reversal," which was a short little satire about what happens when three stereotypical~ bottoms (Mikey, Bill, and Spencer) try to have a threesome. It ended with Mikey inviting Patrick up to his room. This picks up where that left off. It's basically porn without plot, so it's not at all necessary to read the first one. There are some D/s overtones to it, teasing, and the briefest reference to rimming.
Disclaimer - Not real. Never happened. Fake fake fake.
A/N's - I wrote this over a year ago and it's the first sex scene I ever wrote. I just felt like posting it now. Title from "Dinosaurs" by We Are Scientists.

---

( Porn ahoy! )

Today I checked with the Geek Squad to see if the status of my laptop had been changed. Here's what it says now:

07/07/09

8:55am

Parts Ordered

Awaiting arrival of parts ordered from the manufacturer or approved parts supplier for repair. Depending on the supplier, parts arrival may take between three and ten days

So that's awesome. : |


Anyway. As I said the other day, I was going through my photobucket account and found a bunch of ridiculous things.

( I'm bored, so I'm going to post them! ) Okay, that's enough pictures. I think you guys should look through your photobuckets (tinypics, whatever) and post random stuff, too!

And in the best news of my day, PLACEBO HAS ANNOUNCED US TOUR DATES! \o/ Helloooooo, Chicago date! (And/or Kansas City!)

I'm sorry to add another Panic post to your flist, but it feels kind of weird not to comment on it. When I first got into bandom a little over two years ago, all I read was Pete/Patrick and all I knew was FOB. It wasn't until I started roleplaying (almost exactly two years ago) that I was introduced to bandom as a whole. The first person I ever played with was elleestlimonade, and her Spencer was my Patrick's roommate. That was my introduction to Panic! at the Disco. Because of her, I downloaded Fever and listened to it for about a month straight. Her Spencer was one of a handful of sane and realistic characters in that roleplay community and formed my initial impressions of Spencer; I like him then, I like him now, and I liked him in between.

I've never been particularly fannish about Panic as a band, though. I think I read some of the fic for a while and I do like some crossovers (Spence/Wentz!), but I haven't read any Panic-centric fic in at least a year and a half. I never got into Pretty. Odd. and while I have kept up with them through my flist, it's a part of bandom I just sort of ignore by and large. That being said, I can't really imagine how it feels to be a Panic!wife right now. I can't imagine how I'd feel if FOB announced they were calling it quits. Or MCR. Like I said, I'm not that invested in Panic and I was pretty stunned by today's announcement. I'm really sorry for those of you who are really upset by all of this.

For what it's worth, I am now more interested in Panic than I have been in pretty much since I met elleestlimonade. I'll admit, I'm really excited to see what's going to happen, who's going to join up with Brendon and Spencer and what Ryan and John are going to do. I'm mostly excited about the new Panic(!) album, though, because I'm one of the few that greatly prefers Fever to Pretty. Odd. and I'm looking forward to a return to that sound, if that in fact happens. I still have a real affinity for Spencer Smith and, shockingly, I'm starting to come around on Brendon. Depending on what happens, I can see myself maybe even getting involved in that side of bandom. So for those of you who write them, please keep writing. Even if some people leave the fandom, new people (like me) will come in. I don't know. Like I said, I'm excited...

Speaking as someone who's old enough to remember the debut of the Thriller video, I don't really have many thoughts on Michael Jackson's death. He has three children who are going to be in the middle of a legal battle, and that saddens me. I recognize the impact he had on the music industry--especially relating to the way music videos were made--and I have no doubt that he cared about his fans and about giving them the best show he could put on, even at his own personal expense. I like Michael Jackson's music well enough--Bad more than Thriller, actually--but I've never been a huge fan.

Prince, though. I like Prince. I got in my car a bit ago for a late-night shopping trip and Nothing Compares 2 U came on. The original, not Sinead O'Connor's cover. My favorite Prince song has been covered by a female artist as well and I wanted to hear it when I got home so after a quick YouTube search (damn you, laptop, for being out of commission!), I located live versions of it. ( If you're interested, behind the cut is Cyndi Lauper covering When You Were Mine at the 1985 American Music Awards. ) As a girl, Cyndi Lauper influenced so much of my concept of who I could be. I really love her...

Sorry for the nostalgia. I've been really nostalgic lately, having gone through my photobucket last night with artisticmuddle last night and laughing at the crazy stuff that's in there. I may post some of the amusing stuff later. I also went through all my fic the other night and was surprised by how much I don't remember writing and even more by how much I enjoyed. I found a bit of porn I had written and never posted publicly. Actually, it's the first sex scene I ever wrote. It's about 1500 word of Patrick/Mikey and it's... got some D/s overtones to it? Kind of weird for me. I don't know, I might post it here just to post something while I'm working on something else that's kind of weird for me. Idk idk idk.

On Saturday night, my laptop decided to stop taking a charge.  This is the third time in the two years I've owned it where I had to bring it in for repairs.  Thankfully, I paid for the goddamned extended warranty.  The first time I had a problem, it was the same thing; it stopped taking a charge, and they needed to replace the motherboard.  The second time, just this past October/November, they needed to replace the entire harddrive.  And now I think the motherboard is shot again.  Nice.  There are a couple different scenarios here: either they will repair it and return it to me sometime in the next two weeks or they will no longer have the part to repair it and will just replace it with a new laptop.  I like the latter of the two options.  Keep your fingers crossed for that because 1) I'd have a better computer (i.e. bigger harddrive and more memory) and 2) I'd have a laptop faster.  If they manage to repair it, however, under the warranty they will have to replace it in the event it has a fourth hardware malfunction before the warranty runs out next May.  I would say that's fairly likely to happen.

So, I am without a laptop for... the foreseeable future.  Yet again.  I do have this old, crappy desktop that I bought cheap the FIRST time my laptop needed repairs (only six months after I bought it), but it's crappy and slow and it's uncomfortable to sit at so I prefer not to do so for long periods of time.  Coupled with the fact that my work has now blocked access to livejournal, and my reading of my flist has turned into a quick scan.  Not that I was so great with commenting before, but now it's really difficult.  I do have internet access on my phone, but trying to read posts on a 2.5" screen is a royal pain in the ass... 

This also really sucks because there is SO MUCH FIC I could be reading at work right now.  I am finally all caught up with nothing to do and... I literally do nothing.  I take naps and twiddle my thumbs.  I should be writing fic, and I have ideas and stuff, but so far I haven't gotten a word down.  We'll see if next week is better.  

I hope you all have a good holiday weekend.  When I get my laptop back (soon, please, soon), I'm going to make more of an effort.  I miss when I used to be sociable on lj.  I miss when I used to write fic.  I miss a lot of things right now...

Title - "The Best Things Come From Nowhere"
Author - runthegamut
Pairing - Patrick/Mikey, Pete/Ashlee
Rating - NC-17
Word Count - 24,441
Summary - A High School AU wherein Fall Out Boy attend public school, My Chemical Romance attend private school, and Patrick and Mikey meet while working together at a grocery store. As a friendship blossoms between the two, Patrick learns he can't always see the obvious. Fortunately, that's what best friends are for.
Warnings - Underage sex, mentions of drug use
Disclaimer - Not real. Never happened. Fake fake fake.
A/N's - Written for bandombigbang. Masterpost here. Title from "Made-Up Love Song #43" by Guillemots.

---

( Patrick had gotten his job bagging groceries the summer after he turned sixteen, the legal age to work without a permit.  )

So we're in the thick of BBB posting and holy crap, I am the slowest reader ever. I am not even bothering to read fic that's panic-centric because that's not my cup of tea, but even just reading the fic that predominantly features fob and mcr, I'm probably going to be reading for months to catch up. :( Of the fic I have read, I've been so impressed with the quality and jealous by the writers' creativity. Seriously, some great stuff has been posted and I'm so excited to see what's been popping up from those of you on my flist. Awesome.

As for the wank that's popped up recently over warnings, I don't really have much to add to those who've spoken about it way more eloquently than I can. I'll just say that I am of the belief that if your writing contains serious issues that are likely to trigger readers (noncon, dubcon, drug use, self harm, eating disorders, death), you need to warn for it. The end. I have tried to think of a legitimate reason not to warn, and I cannot come up with one. And for anyone who hasn't yet read it, I'd direct you to a post impertinence has made on the subject: Warning: Very explicit discussion of sexual assault and the nature, anatomy, cause & effect of triggers. Is itself triggery.

I've seen this a few times on my f-list so I figured I'd give it a try.

The Character Expression Meme

.happy.	.sad.	.angry.	.scared.
.disgusted.	.surprised.	.flirty.	.sexual.
.confused.	.shy.	.playful.	.rage.
.hurt.	.guilty.	.bored.	.laughing.
.sarcastic.	.tired.	.wtf.	.pride.
.sympathy.	.evil.	.innocent.	.in love.
YOUR	FOUR	FAVORITE	ICONS

WANT TO DO IT TOO?
Snag yourself the coding here.

Why do I spend so much time agonizing over a title for my fic when I rarely, if ever, pay attention to titles when deciding what to read? It's ridiculous, I realize. I almost always use a song lyric, and I pretty much never take this long to pick one. When I've written in the past, there's been a fairly fast turnaround between writing and posting, and the last thing I do is pick a title and it mostly involves putting my iTunes on shuffle until something strikes me. With bbb I have all this stupid time to think about it and it's driving me insane.

So, f-list: How do you pick your fic titles? How long is too long for a title? Do you try to match it to what the fic is actually about or the feel of it or just something that sounds good? Do you agonize over this stuff too?

God, I'm glad I'm not in a band where I had to name a dozen songs per album. I'd go out of my mind.

Hi.

I have not updated for a while. Part of the reason involves BBB. I was totally going to write it this month but then given the family situation lately, I have just been far too drained. Last weekend, I decided to give it one more shot, figuring I had a few days, why not? I wrote 1000 words that I hated. Whatever, right? I could just re-write it later.

Tuesday night I think to myself "Self? You had better get cracking on that BBB." I wrote another 1000 words, which I hated more than the first 1000. Boo.

I decide yesterday that dammit, I'm just going to get cracking because I apparently cannot let go of my desire to participate. I wrote 500 words yesterday evening, realize I have no feel for my characters or their chemistry, decide it's a lost cause and would be much less stress if I just admit that with everything that's been going on, this year is just not my year. So I quit.

That is, until this morning when I reread what I've written, decide it's not that awful, and discover I have until 5am to finish. I started writing about 10am (at work, no less /o\) and finished about 3am. That's 17,500 words in 17 hours (minus driving, eating, going to the store, and breaks to chat and be a vegetable).

My brain? Is shot. My vision? Is blurred. My BBB? Is shitty, but it's done. Hallelujah, I have kicked my writer's block in the ass.

P.S. snarkyrainbow? I am not ignoring you. I just haven't been able to look at anything or reply to anything because I've been in this tizzy about BBB this week. I'm going to go die now, but I'll get back to you tomorrow. :D

For those of you on my f-list who write or might want to try their hand at writing or who, like me, need a kick in the pants, bestthingaround  has made a new prompt community!



Join with me!  

GIMME THAT GAY MARRIAGE DECISION, IOWA SUPREME COURT!  Ugh, the website has crashed from hits.  I'm compulsively refreshing the Des Moines Register's website for news and waiting for them to scroll it on the bottom of the tv.  *sigh*  I don't want to go in to work until after it's been announced.  They showed a crowd of 'activists' holding a prayer vigil outside.  If they uphold the ban on gay marriage, I assume those people will go home.  If they strike down the ban, those people will still be there when I come in, but I'll find the whole thing much more amusing.  What I should have done was get in to work early and then I'd probably have heard by now what the decision is.  F5 F5 F5

GAY MARRIAGE IS LEGAL IN IOWA!  \o/

"As Iowa goes, so goes the nation."

( Grief~ stuff  )

Tomorrow, the Iowa Supreme Court is going to release their ruling deciding the constitutionality of the state law's prohibition on gay marriage.  They've requested extra security at our building, so I'm hopeful that means they will be affirming the district court ruling, which found the ban unconstitutional.  I thought the district court's opinion was well-reasoned and gave the supreme court a leg to stand on in affirming, so we shall see.  Cross your fingers...

Finally, there's a spate of shows popping up in my area.  Tell me who I should go see?

Poll #1377139 Shows!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Which of the following--if any--shows should I drag my ass to?

So, the visitation was on Friday and the funeral was yesterday and I survived. Surprisingly, I actually felt comforted at being able to help make the funeral arrangements on Tuesday. I had opinions about things and I could make decisions and it helped me to feel in control of something. As for the rest of the week, there were family dramas and my mom is struggling and it snowed for the funeral, but I'm doing okay. I'm slowly coming to terms with everything, I'm just really drained.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. You guys are all so great about rallying behind someone in a time of crisis and it's so appreciated. Much love to you all.

On to something happier, the other night, artisticmuddle found me a whole slew of pictures of Mikey playing Dance, Dance at the Save Latin show that I'd never seen before. I updated the fob/mcr primer, but ( I'm reposting them here because they make me happy. ) With these new ones, that raises the grand total of crossover pics to 94. ♥___♥

I'm going to call it a night. I hope you're all well and I'll get around to catching up with everyone tomorrow. ♥