Random Stuff from My Mind

It's been an entire month since my last post. Shame on me....bad blogger! I really hadn't realized it had been so long--every day I intended to write something. There is a REASON I am the Queen of Procrastination, ya know, not just the Princess! Jeez, you'd think someone who can talk as much as I can, about absolutely nothing, would be much better at keeping this blog up to date, wouldn't you?

Of course, I always think I need to say something meaningful, or at least entertaining, and then I get a bad case of blogger's block! I don't know why I think a blog needs to be deep--I read enough of them to know that isn't true! Some of them make Pauly Shore movies look meaningful! The approach I need to take is this: just write about whatever, and see what happens. Kind of the same thing I do when I talk...

First an update on the last month of my life, in case anyone out there cares:

My bank account, which was hugely overdrawn due to the theft of my debit card, has been mostly fixed. It turned out that my laptop had a huge trojan virus, and a bunch of my info was being taken; I'm actually lucky that they only took such a minor amount of money! I am still trying to convince the bank to refund all of the overdraft fees, but somehow, I doubt that will happen.

Healthwise, things are better. It's been 31 days since my last seizure (YIPPEE!!), and that is fabulous! The thyroid meds seem to have finally kicked in, because I am FINALLY losing weight. (I hesitate to say that, for fear of jinxing it!) And inches, too. Back in April, I took measurements, and re-took them the other day: all of them were down at least 2 inches! It's kinda freaking me out, because I'm not really doing anything differently. Still eating mostly green smoothies (except, of course, on those days when I have to have a big bowl of ice cream!), and coffee, and popcorn. Still sitting around on my ass, reading, surfing the net, and watching Netflix! A part of me wonders what is wrong, to cause this; yes, I am paranoid.

I gave up on growing my nails out, because I couldn't stop from biting them. Frankly, I'd rather wear fakes than have my real ones gnawed down so far they bleed, which is where they end up! My hair still looks terrific, of course.

As for the online dating, well, I met someone. And for now, that is all I am saying about that!



 

I've spent a lot of time watching Netflix this last month. First I binged on True Blood, and now I'm finishing up Dexter. I didn't make it through the last 2 seasons of Dexter when it was on the air, so these are new for me. Frankly, after Season 6, I think I would have quit. Maybe even Season 5. It's not really living up to it's potential; although I do enjoy getting to see Michael Clarke Duncan naked so often! And I am glad that Masuka got his own little storyline (and that we don't have to see him naked!).

Still reading Fanfiction, and I just started reading a book called "Fic: How Fanfiction is Taking Over the World"  Anne Jamison, which is turning out to be very interesting. Can't wait to review it for ya'll!

A now, my little rant for the day:

I surprised myself today when I discovered an article stating that Barry Manilow got married back in April 2015, to his longtime producer and boyfriend! How did I miss this? Being the Fanilow that I am, how did this tidbit (not the fact that he's gay-- as if that's a big shock-but the marriage) escape my notice? Honestly. I am a bit disappointed in Barry after reading several articles about this very private wedding (where Suzanne Somers was reportedly his 'best man' --and that bothers me, too!), simply because he still has not actually come out. No paperwork has been filed, and he has not made any statements. Apparently, Barry is too worried about his career, worried that his fans won't understand if he admits he's gay. To which I say "Oh, PUH-LEEZ! Give me a friggin' break!" I've been a fan since I was in elementary school, and I realized in middle school that he was probably gay (I'm not sure I even really knew what that meant at the time.), but it certainly doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that someone who sings about love so passionately doesn't have the courage to put his love first. Especially now, when his career is rock solid. I ask you, Barry, "What would Tony do if this were about Lola?"

 

It's Not Hoarding if They're eBooks, Right?

If Hoarders ever decides to do a show on people who have too many books, they'd over look me, because, really, my library of "real" books isn't that big. Comparatively speaking, that is. Not nearly big enough to land me a spot on a show like that. My ebook library, on the other hand, is getting out of control.

I'm fairly sure that I have at least 150 unread books on my Kindle app. Then there are the ones on Aldiko, Google Books, Moon+Reader, and  OverDrive. We won't even mention the dozens of fanfiction books/stories lurking about my tablet, or the audiobook waiting to be listened to. And I'm not counting the things I HAVE read. 
Except for those things I've read before in a paper version, all of these are new to me. I'm addicted to free book sites, and some days, spend more time searching out free things to download than I do reading. It's distressing. 

 

Now, this is not to say I don't read at all, because we all know that isn't true. I'm halfway through an odd book called Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher.



 

It's a YA novel about a teen girl writing to a man on death row, and confessing all her dark secrets to him. Twisted. Just my style.

 

 

 

A Few Reccomendations

I promised some fanfiction recommendations, and here they are. I've read so many, but these are just a few that I truly liked. I'll add more later. All of these are in the Harry Potter universe, and are mostly Drarry stories. I confess, I do like those slash stories!



 

Jonna's HP FanFic Recs, Part One

 

The Bound Prince series by slash perv and sayingsorry_hh                                       (7 volumes, Harry/Draco, ADULT)

This seven volume series is extremely well written, and is available on slash perv’s website as a free pdf download. Beginning with that pivotal moment in Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince where Harry finds Draco crying in the bathroom; in this version, instead of hexing each other, they kiss, and from there, things escalate. Serious m/m slash, with lots of explicit sex: really, in nearly every chapter after the first couple, Harry & Draco are shagging, sometimes on a life-or-death basis. Some of the best long reads out there.

 

A British Summer by Omi_Ohmy                                                                                (One Shot, Harry/Draco, Explicit, Smut)

Ice cream.  After the war, and a very public breakup with Ginny, Harry has become a recluse. Draco is surprised when he runs into him scooping ice cream in a Muggle town on a summer afternoon.  I love ice cream (and sorbet, and gelato, and frozen yogurt...) and this story called out to me. It is yummy--but be warned, it’ll have you craving a frozen treat!

 

Vale Sanare by RurouniHime                                                                             (Draco/Harry, one shot, angst)

This is not a happy little fic, but it speaks to me.  Draco suffers seizures as an after-effect of something that happened during the war (we never find out what), and Harry helps him to find ways to cope. Turns out the war left Harry with some physical issues of his own. I am epileptic, and I seldom read anything that talks about seizures, simply because most writers cannot get the way seizure disorders affect a person right. This author does a spot-on job of describing both Draco’s seizures themselves (from his POV), and the way he feels after; I especially like the way the author describes his aura:

“Everything is the colour of plums, so dark and so opaque that Draco doesn't know what happens next. He could be falling. He could be standing. He could be breaking his nose on the floor right this instant, this eternity, and bleeding over Harry's floorboards—”

 

Not Only Fine Feathersby fantasyfruitbat                                                                 (Harry/Draco NC-17, one-shot, veela!)

I confess to a liking for veela fics, and this is a bit different from most. After the war, a mistreated, caged and feral veela is discovered in a Death Eater safe house, and will only respond to Harry. Of course, this veela turns out to Draco. The Ministry wants to put him down, but Harry fights to save him.

 

Checkmate by Naadi                                                                                           (Harry/Draco, romance/angst)

Set during their seventh year at Hogwarts, this is a multi-chapter fiction that is canon through Goblet of Fire. Draco challenges Harry to a game of dare chess, and throughout the fiction, an actual game of chess is played. But is his ultimate goal love or betrayal?

This is a very popular fic, and even won some awards. The fan art for it is numerous, and includes a Lego version of one chapter, linked here.

 

Sex, Lies and Veritaserum  by lettered                                                            (Harry/Draco, one-shot, explicit)

The warning on this story states “This entire fic is one long conversation about sex.” And it’s the truth. When Draco spikes the wine with veritaserum, he and his husband Harry begin a conversation about their sexual fantasies and desires. This gets rather explicit, and hot. Hey, they aren’t all love stories, folks.

 

And An Owl Named Romeo by Rickey                                                                   (Draco/Harry, romance)

Draco breeds owls, Harry is an Auror, and an owl brings them together. The characterization in this love story is wonderful, and so is the romance!

 

Nothing Like The Sun by Lomonaaeren                                                            (Harry/Draco, angst/romance, NC-17)

Don’t go into this one expecting happy happy joy joy. In this story, Harry has been convinced by his past lovers that not only is he too ugly and lousy at sex to keep a wizard lover. He tries to get better, and compromises by wearing glamours, and finally, deciding to be content with one-night-stands with Muggles. Then along comes Draco, who messes everything up by wanting a relationship. This was a difficult story to read--Harry’s pain is palpable. But stick with it. It’s worth it.

 

It’s My Life by Fyreheart                                                                                                   (Harry, AU)

This is an alternate universe fiction, and one of the best I’ve read. After his second year at Hogwarts, Harry realizes that things aren’t quite what they should be, and he decides to change them. He does this by becoming pro-active in his life, and making huge changes--including leaving Hogwarts, and England. It’s an interesting idea, exploring “what if?”

Save Your Fanfiction!

I'm working on a list of some of my favorite fan-fics to share with you. There is so much out there... But first, I wanted to share these links with you. I read both on my laptop and on my tablet (a nifty Samsung Galaxy, which I love!) using various e-reader apps. Scrolling on the laptop just gets to be a bit much, ya know? Plus, it's much easier to read from the tablet in bed! So I went looking for ways to download various fics so I can read them elsewhere.  Archive Of Our Own, has a built in download feature on stories, allowing you to choose between formats (mobi, which is for Kindle; epbub, pdf or html); most of the other sites don't offer this feature, which is a shame, since it's very efficient. Hence, the search for ways to save.

Since a large portion of fan-fiction is archived/posted on Fanfiction.net, finding a way to download those stories was tantamount. (FFN does have a mobile version, but it tends to be too small for me to read.) The site I found, which works most of the time, is Ficsave. It's dedicated only to FFN, but has issues. When it works, it's great. As with many of these sites, you simply enter the link of the work you want to download, choose your format, and save.

A better choice for FFN, as well as several other sites is StoryMaster, which works quite well for FFN, Adult Fan Fiction, and a few other sites, is a bit different, in that your result is emailed to you, and then you can download it. The results here are always well done; I've not been disappointed yet. I only wish it worked for more sites,

FanFiction Downlaoder has an extensive list of supported sites, including AOO, The Hex Files, FFN, Literotica, Fiction Press, and Trek Universe. As with many others, it will not work on stories from LiveJournal.

Squee!book is a site which supposedly turns a website into something more along the lines of an actual book. You have to load each chapters link of multi-part stories (from some sites) one by one, which is a huge pain in the ass.  And there are still some large bugs, not least of which is the fact that even after loading all of those, they don't always transfer, and your work is for naught. However, on some sites, it works perfectly well; user be warned.

Online-Convert is a multi-use site, which offers file conversion of all types. Audio, video, image, document, and ebook. I use the ebook converter all the time. It is especially handy for those Live Journal stories, when my only option is to cut and paste. A pdf document is quickly converted into a mobi or epub file, or vice versa.

I've also used an app called dotEpub, a software that allows you to convert any webpage to an epub with one click. Unfortunately, it does not work with LiveJournal.

All of these are free sites, although a few offer upgrades. Good luck!

Fan-fiction Has Stolen My Brain

I am not sure exactly when, but sometime before Christmas, I began reading Harry Potter fan-fiction online. Primarily, Drarry  and other slash fictions. And I've not stopped since. My brain, my life, my time, has been taken over... 

I hear some of you asking "WTH is she talking about? Slash? Drarry?" In fandom terms, Slash is "a type of fic, often written by women, involving romantic or sexual involvement between two characters of the same gender. The term originates from early Star Trek fandom, namely "Kirk/Spock" stories -- the term "slash" comes from the slash (/) placed between the names of the characters involved".  Drarry is the pairing of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, combining their names.

What, exactly is the point of all of this? I have no idea. As I said, my brain has been invaded, stolen, by fan-fics. I'm alternately deeply enthralled by wonderful writing and great stories, some with truly excellent sex scenes, and highly annoyed by poor grammar, atrocious spelling and the worst romances I've seen. And I have read some bad romance novels in my time, people.

What amazes me each time I go onto FanFiction.net or Archive Of Our Own to look for new stories is how many are out there. How many people are writing about the things they love, creating worlds where the characters they love do all sorts of things. Where Sherlock and The Doctor have tea, or The Monkees hang out with Mozart. Worlds where the cast of Harry Potter interacts with the Twilight gang, or Sookie & Eric are running away from Buffy. True, some of the stories are awful, but that's a risk you take when reading anything new. And I'm having fun. Isn't that what matters?

Besides, I kinda like the idea of Sherlock & The Doctor being friends. Makes perfect sense to me...