Iesus Non Amat Me

New year, new theme! Christmas may be over but it's still winter so this snowman theme is totally appropriate.

This year has been all right so far. I gave blood a couple of weeks ago and it all went smoothly, so that was good. Work has been a little rougher with various people falling ill. And because one of my colleagues has just tested positive for Covid I now have to do Lateral Flow tests every day for a week. Such fun!

My friends and I have got into Wordle and we compare our results every day over WhatsApp, which I'm really enjoying. I'm currently stuck in a 4/6 rut though and it's getting a bit ridiculous now! My aim for the year is to score 2/6. Or even the hallowed 1/6, although that is more a case of really, really good luck more than anything else!

Speaking of aims for the year, it's time to look back at my New Year's Goals for 2021 and see how I fared:

1. Walk more. (I'm never going to like formal exercise, but I do enjoy walking around places. Especially if it's a good place for photography. Hopefully it won't be long before I can travel again too.) I would call this one a success. Now we have Tormund walks are a regular thing and I'm definitely doing a lot more exercise than I had been! I've also been taking photographs, although mostly of the same woods. I had hoped that I'd be able to venture a bit further afield, but that's a separate issue to the specific goal of walking more.

2. Post all of my 2019 365 photos before the end of 2021. (I'm not giving up on this just because it's two years ago now.) Fail. I did make a bit of progress in choosing what photos I plan to post but then... never got round to doing it.

3. Get back into reading books and finish all the ones I've got on the go right now. (I do love fics and I'm not going to stop reading them, but I should try and branch out a little. Get a bit more variety in my reading habits.) Yeah, well, ahem. So, I did read a bit more of the books I've got on the go but I didn't end up finishing any of them. So, also fail.

4. Post the fanfictions that I'm currently working on Oh, god, total fail. I want to. I really do. But I'm so worried that they're shit. And as much as I tell myself that you have to start somewhere and improve from there, my anxiety hates the idea of posting something bad.

Right, well, to misquote Meat Loaf (RIP), one out of four ain't bad.

So, what are my goals for this year going to be?

1. Post more of my 2019 photos. It doesn't have to be all of them, just make some progress. Any progress. Please.

2. Finish the damn books you're currently reading. Yes, including that one you haven't looked at since 2018. You can remember the plot, right?

3. POST YOUR FIC. It has been literal years. Just post it and stop worrying that everyone is judging you.

4. Score 2/6 on Wordle.

And there you have it. Will I actually accomplish any of these things this year? Only time will tell!

Well, so far the first day of 2021 is going pretty well. Work was fairly quiet with no problems or horrible customers. Possibly because most people assume we'll be closed New Year's Day. Which, to be honest, I think we could be. It would make us all a lot happier too.

This is the point where I look back at the resolutions specific goals I made for myself this time last year and have to admit that I have failed every single one of them in every single way.

1. Find a form of exercise that I don't hate. I'm sorry, I just hate exercise. I could say I was hampered by the gyms having to close, but if I'm honest with myself I'd have been too scared to go anyway.

2. Post all of my 2019 365 photos before the end of 2020. Did I post a single 365 photo last year? No. No, I did not. I don't know why I keep procrastinating this so much. Possibly because most days I took quite a few pics and I'll have to choose which ones to use and, as we all know, I am forever paralysed by indecision.

3. Finish reading all the books I've got on the go right now (Furiously Happy, Wild Magic, The President is Missing, A Dance With Dragons: Dreams and Dust) before the end of 2020. I did not finish a single one of those books. But I did read bucketloads of fanfic. Of which I also have multiple stories on the go at any one time cos I keep starting a new one before I've finished the old.

4. Post the fanfiction that I'm currently working on. It is still not posted. It is also still not finished and, as with everything else on this list, I have made little to no progress on it in the last twelve months. I did start writing three other fics though, which is not at all helpful for this particular goal.

So there we have it. Total fail. I feel like I should be able to blame 2020 for this. Everything about that year was just crazy and I don't think it should count.

Actually, yeah, that's what I'm going to do. 2020 doesn't count and I'm trying again. Here are my New Year's Goals for 2021:

1. Walk more. (I'm never going to like formal exercise, but I do enjoy walking around places. Especially if it's a good place for photography. Hopefully it won't be long before I can travel again too.)

2. Post all of my 2019 365 photos before the end of 2021. (I'm not giving up on this just because it's two years ago now.)

3. Get back into reading books and finish all the ones I've got on the go right now. (I do love fics and I'm not going to stop reading them, but I should try and branch out a little. Get a bit more variety in my reading habits.)

4. Post the fanfictions that I'm currently working on. (Yes, all of them. Probably won't happen but I can try. I need to make myself sit down and actually focus on writing though, which has been difficult lately.)

So there we have it. My goals for this year. Hopefully I will do a better job of achieving them this time around!

I just want to say that I haven't forgotten about my Wales pics, I'm just being really bad at finding the time to post them! As usual I took far too many photographs so it's taking me a while to go through them all. I'm also getting more hours at work, so less time to plan LJ posts.

I also spent much of last week feeling like my mind was in a fog, which was disconcerting and unpleasant, but the fog seems to be lifting now, so that's good.

Another thing that's taking up my time, though, is fanfiction. And not just reading stories, which I already do extensively and is nothing new to me, but for the first time in ages I have a proper idea for writing one. At first I planned to write it just for me and not share it anywhere, but I'm now wondering if I might put it online. That does make it harder to write though, cos it means I feel self-conscious about the work and spend ages on research and word-choice rather than just writing whatever I like knowing no-one else will ever see it.

Title: Where it Shined Upon You Last
Author: Cazzie (a-bitey-mad-lady on Tumblr)
Summary: After Amy and Rory leave the Tardis for the last time, the Doctor pays a visit to Augustus and Tabetha Pond.
Rating: K+
Spoilers: Based on speculation for series 7 and the knowledge of which monsters are involved in the Ponds’ last episode.

( Where It Shined Upon You Last )

I've been feeling rather down for the past week so I've been watching a lot of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman to feel better and, oh my god, I'd forgotten just how much I love this series. It's amazing! I've also dived straight back into fanfiction for it, which is like meeting up with an old friend.

It has reminded me of something though, which is bugging me because I can't remember what it is, and I was wondering if my flist might be able to help out. Clark's early proposal to Lois made me think of it; I'm sure I can remember a TV series where there was a male/female couple who were obviously supposed to be together and something happened and the man proposed to the woman before they were even romantically involved. It's driving me crazy cos I can't remember what it is. Part of me thinks I'm just misremembering Lois and Clark, but I was sure that there was no romantic relationship at all before the proposal in the one I'm thinking of.

So flist, any ideas? Or am I making it up?

Also, this is probably a good time to warn you all that the Oscars are on Sunday and I will be doing my, by now traditional, thing of staying up late and posting about it as I get progressively drunker and more tired as the night goes on. So you may end up with a Friends Page which is just post after post of me and my ramblings. Enjoy!

So... there I was, writing The Story when Word suddenly tells me it has an error and closes down, taking most of what I had just written with it.

Clearly, Word does not approve of Sara/Snoopy.

I have posted my entry to the geekfiction Summer Reading Ficathon. And as usual I feel quite, quite sick. This is my first CSI fic and I really hope it's not rubbish.

It's here if anyone wants to read it and reassure me that it doesn't completely suck: http://community.livejournal.com/geekfiction/708385.html

So, my weekend was excellent. Good food, good friends, good films. Baking was fun and it was great to see Emma again. It really had been far too long.

I also took the opportunity of going into Guildford to buy a copy of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. I've been meaning to read it for some time and got the push I needed a couple of days ago when I signed up for the Geekfiction Summer Reading Ficathon.

I've seen ficathons before and haven't signed up because I was worried that my attempt would be rubbish, but this time I thought I should give it a try. Face your fears and all that. It'll probably still be rubbish but at least I'm going to have a go.

Hopefully I'll be hit by inspiration when I read the book.

Greetings chumps and chumpettes.

Chapter 3 of What I Did On My Winter Hiatus is now up at that bastion of all that is good and pure in fandom, fanfiction.net. Go and read if you dare.

As for myself, I am preparing to go on a journey of wonder and discovery to that magical land known as Canterbury. Alas, this will limit my internet access for the next few days but I will try not to wither away.

Upon my return there should be a shiny new episode of Prison Break for me to watch and recap for your vicarious viewing pleasure.

Try not to end the world without me. I'd hate to miss that party.