Right.

Seems to be taken care of.

Anyone available today for plot-noodling? You don't *have* to know my Yuletide canon, although it helps. And by "plot-noodling", I mean "I tell you what I've got and you ask questions about it" - not that I expect you to come up with plot elements.* Because I've got (a) 300 words, all of which I hate, and (b) a plot that's falling apart in my mind's eye because I have no idea why the characters would do any of this and (c) a serious case of panic.

And it needs to be done today - I don't have the time to deal with a daily exchange of email stretching the process out over several days.

*panics some more*


* If someone else comes up with a plot element or something like that for me, then my brain refuses to write it. What I need are questions, not solutions.

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Picture of Snufkin!


If you have no idea who that is, you missed out on a wodnerful series of children's books and should remedy that problem immediately.

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Today's The Big Picture has some beautiful photos of archaeology, paleontology, and current life in the Sahara in Niger, including a stunning petroglyph of a giraffe. But I think my favorite picture is #14, for the perfect shadows and expression on the boy's face.

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via cynthia1960: Pride and Prejudice as a series of Facebook updates.

Lydia Bennet became a fan of Officers.
Kitty Bennet became a fan of Officers.

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Yay, something went right! I called DirecTV to inquire as to why I was being billed for HBO, Starz, and Showtime when I'd never ordered them. Turns out that I'd been given them free for three months for some reason* and then it started automatically billing. But she was very nice and removed them and credited me with the three months' worth of billing, taxes, and fees I was behind on because of this** and All should be Well. Hopefully.



* Between the CSR's accent and my lousy connection, I wasn't quite able to figure out why.

** I have to use automatic bill pay, otherwise I never actually pay bills, thanks to the ADD. Also thanks to the ADD, I don't check the bills every month. I'd set up an automatic monthly payment for the amount I should be paying to go to them, so I wasn't automatically overpaying, just getting more and more behind in the bill each month. But it's all taken care of now. I shall endeavor to remember to check that is the case next month.

Quick manga recs!

My workplace has chosen a Christmas charity which is a local children's advocacy center which works with CPS and local law enforcement agencies to investigate child abuse cases. The form it takes is a list of kids, each with a few gift wishes, and we bring in items for them, which go to the (non-abusive) parent or guardian to wrap and give the kids.

So I'm idly scanning the cards with the kids' info and one jumps out: a 14-year-old girl, who lists that she wants manga. Obviously, I'm not given any information such as what manga she's already read or what she likes, so I'm not going to give her used manga and I'm going to include a gift receipt so that she can exchange it for something she hasn't read if she's got it already.

But as I'm all a-tizzy with Yuletide and whatnot right now, if anyone can throw a few thoughts my way as to manga that are appropriate for a 14-year-old girl, potentially in a conservative religious household*, who may also be physically, sexually, or emotionally abused? (i.e. NO FRICKIN WAY Hot Gimmick is going in there! And I'd be seriously concerned about later volumes of Fruits Basket too - without knowing the girl, I couldn't tell whether they'd be traumatizing, or be good to help her work through her issues.)

I'm looking at getting 3-4 volumes, either vol. 1 of a few different series or 1-4 of one series. I'd go straight gift card, except there's something really nice about getting a physical object. (Er, if anyone wants to throw a buck or two my way for an additional gift card, that'd be just as nice, but I'm not asking for that.)


* Quite common in Texas.

yuletide progress report

Good: 1319 words! Well past the 1000-word minimum!

Bad: It's, like, only halfway through the story, and I'll need to go back through and rewrite it, adding, shall we say, local color to the prose.

Ah, hell, I'm going to have some ice cream. *gets the Lact-Aid*