okay, i'm back with more unfulfilled kinkme prompts:

#1; #2; #3; #4; #5; #6; #7

who wants to pick one? ;P

The meaning behind Veteran's Day is fantastic. It's a moment to celebrate Veteran's and the peace they fought and continue fighting for. But once that war is over, we, (at least Americans) have a habit of forgetting about them until once a year. Death tolls are to be ignored, photos are to be denied and the actual cost to these men and women are shuffled off amidst the hype of "we won. Go America" that sweeps the country. Mission Accomplished flight shenanigans piss me off so fiercely because the soldiers are still over there fighting and its only gotten worse.

Then, when they come back, there are hundreds of issues we, the non-military, cannot even possibly understand.

Homeless Veterans are more common than you think. In Arizona alone, there are only about 200 beds for the almost 4000 homeless veterans. 45% of them suffer from mental illness. Half have substance abuse problems. 47% served in Vietnam. 67% served the country for more than 3 years. 33% were stationed in war zones. On any given night, there are over 130,000 homeless veterans. The number is an estimate because no one can be bothered to keep accurate numbers of homeless let alone homeless veterans. (moar statistics)

If you can even spare five bucks, a local homeless organization can take that five bucks and help veterans in your area. You don't think five bucks makes that big of a deal? Let me tell you, five dollars can make or break a budget, determine if there's enough food for everyone they're serving, go towards an electric bill to heat a house and pay for water for a shower. Five dollars is important. It's a big mac for you, it's three servings of turkey and stuffing for them. So how about honoring Veteran's on this Veteran's Day by finding a local Veteran's support charity and donating five bucks?

In a more personal relationship with Veteran's Day, my family has always had at least one member of every generation in the military since New York was known as New Amsterdam. My brother and little sister were Air Force and Navy. My dad was Navy and my Uncle was Marines. My cousins are Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard. My Uncle served four tours of duty in Vietnam and never went to the Wall because it was too much for him, there were too many men he knew.

He barely ever talked about the war and that makes me sad because, all too often, we whitewash the actual cost of war and expect servicemen and women to go into the experience blind. Knowing that there are going to be missions where you're the only one that makes it back alive is necessary to preparing for war. Everyone should know about the cost so that maybe, just maybe, we don't have to send these men and women off to die. Maybe then, we won't mock diplomacy first and we'll show the utmost respect for our servicepeople by not putting their lives in danger without exhausting every other option first.

Rather than just honoring our fallen and those that have served, why don't we honor them by continuing to support them? It isn't just about the money, it's about fighting to make sure we don't endanger them any more than we have to by entering needless wars. It's about ensuring that there's enough healthcare so that, in 2008 alone, more than 2200 don't die because they didn't have insurance. It's about keeping them off the streets and sheltered. It's about honoring them day in and day out because they did and continue to do a job that some of us are incapable of doing. (and by some of us, I mean me)

Class gets canceled but I am already at school...
Do I stay and study or go home and try to resist bejeweled...
Decisions decisions...
I decide to go home but agree to feel really guilty about it. *makes wise choices*

What should be on the radio when I get in the car but the final lines of Bon Jovi's "Who says you can't go home" ....
"there's only one place left I want to go
Who Says You Can't Go Home
It's alright, it's alright, it's alright, it's alright, it's alright"

ROFLMAO!
Talk about a sign!

Today is a day to remember.



But today also means something else. Two years ago, a little girl named Madeline was born. Her parents are friends of friends – those people you know in the back of your head but don’t think of often because they’re so far removed from your daily life.

Today they celebrate Madeline’s second birthday without their daughter.

There are so many people to remember today. So many faces in a parade, so many names on a wall, so many crosses in a cemetery, so many poppies in a field – the sum so staggering it’s easier to contemplate as a concept rather than a number. But we try to remember anyway, even if it doesn’t make sense in the end. We can do that much.

So today I will find room in my head and my heart to remember just one more.

544! That's how many entries Harlequin/Mills&Boon received for the writing competition. *sigh* I *know* they're not going to give away that many fainting couches.

I do feel sorry for all the editors who have to slog through that many first chapters. I've decided to remain optimistic (why not?) and I'm working on the revisions to that story. I hope to write some H/G once I have that done.

In other news, the six inches of snow has melted, but the leaves are still there!

* Risotto could do with a bit of tweaking, but I call success! The flavour was great.

* If anyone wants to know what I've been doing the last couple of days, see HERE, HERE and HERE. I know, probably not fascinating for everybody, but I'm pleased with the progress. For those who don't know, each of those little squares contains 100 stitches, and the pattern itself is roughly A4.

* Watching lots of Top Gear. Up to season 7. Recognise some eps but not others. Quite enjoyable.

[13] 2x07 The Witchfinder

Teasers:




( Read more... )

Soundfiles from 2x07: The Witchfinder

I am a cooking experimenter!

For perhaps as long as a year, I have been threatening planning to make a risotto inspired by Sam's Spicy Peanut Butter Soup.

It's in the oven, and initial taste tests say OMGYAY.

I'm excited.

Title: Train Wreck [WIP]
Author: Ryan, 1bacchanalian
Rating:NC-17 [for later chapters]
Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING.
Warnings: Future!fic, AU, OOC, Crack, Non-Con, Drug Use, Religion, Alcoholism, Self-harm, Het, Spoilers for S1e4 and S2e5 (but the details have been thoroughly perverted by this 'verse)
Summary: Arthur Penn has an unhealthy fascination with medieval weaponry. Merlin Emrys is just unhealthy, in general.

Read more?

okay, i know merlin has got all kinds of period issues and mostly i don't care. they can throw tomatoes at merlin when he's in the stocks and put numerous buckles on his boots and make him wear a jacket. i don't even care about the fact that gwen doesn't seem to really know what any of the armour is called since she calls a piece of plate the hauberk when, in fact, the hauberk is the mail shirt underneath the whole thing. but it means whenever one writes it in period, one has to decide how to adapt bbc!reality with fandom!reality with history. it really slows one down (and yes, am aware that i whined about this before, but i just spent 40 minutes trying to figure out what the piece of armour that arthur would need help with was called (and then subsequently all the other parts, because that entire arm/shoulder/chest thinger has about four different named bits to it) [*flails*]).

progress on hols fic, minimal, but progress nonetheless.

and of course ( so you think you can dance spoilers )

anyway, before i go, i just have to note that (as the defamer puts it) The lovable high-brows at Miller-McCune did some sort of mathematical voodoo to a zillion movie reviews and figured out critics' favourite and least favourite actors, as well as which critics are the nicest and the meanest. the boy with the bluest eyes, mr elijah wood, came out on top ♥ as a matter of fact, they say that [t]he final list shows that everyone who was in Lord of the Rings is an awesome actor with great taste in projects (where 'everyone' is both ians, cate, viggo and elijah). in case you were wondering ashton kutcher is in the bottom eight of those most dissed by the critics, but folk bellow him include matthew lillard, rob schneider, and martin lawrence, with freddie prinze jr at the v. bottom.

{38} Jennifer Morrison / Allison Cameron
{42} Twilight Cast / New Moon + 2 Edward/Bella banners
{46} Harry Potter / Cast + 4 banners

+++ 3 Wallpapers (1 House MD, 2 New Moon)

Teasers: ..

here @ my journal

The flickr uploader is currently on photograph nine of 304. I would say that this could take all night except that I KNOW THIS WILL TAKE ALL NIGHT and all I really want is to PURCHASE APERTURE and let it DO EVERYTHING VERY QUICKLY.

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