Thanks thanks thanks so much lillian78 !! 12 months paid LJ time for my birthday - I am overwhelmed!

*loves on you*

And a sweet thank you to aerianya, jellicle, shelley6441 & lallybroch for the lovely virtual gifts. :-)

Myspace Thank You Graphics

My Morning Routine, as suggested by angstslashhope

4.55 AM - Alarm goes off, I groan & get up.

5.00 AM - I'm dressed and Dad has brekky on the table. I take my fibre, vitamins and medicine.

5.28 AM - I walk across the road to work, Dad walks me so he can get his paper. It's dark and cold at this time of the year.

5.30 AM - 9.00 AM - I do my first shift. 

9.00 AM - I come home and have my mid morning snack, a piece of fruit. Then I'm on the computer or reading until it's time to go back to work for my next shift. (Except for Friday when I work in the office between 10.00 AM and Noon.)

Boring, ne?

Speaking of angstslashhope, she's coming to Brisbane on Sunday 18th May & Monday 19th for a conference and we're talking about getting together for dinner on Sunday night.

Any Brissy fans want to get together, have a nice dinner and a bit of a chat with fans?  Could be fun!!

They shall not grow old, as we who are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We shall remember them.

LEST WE FORGET 1915-2008.

This whole 'Can I Touch Your Boobs' thing has me thinking.

Say that a women who participated in this grope-fest got gang-raped that night in some quiet stairwell.

Say that the guys all claimed it was consensual and it boiled down to her word against theirs.

Say that they could honestly state that just hours earlier she approached them, in public, and invited them to fondle her breasts.

What do you think would happen? 

Poll #1176127 The 'She Asked For It' Poll
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

What would the police think?

Would it make it to court?

What would the jury think?

What would you think?

Do you think this could happen?

Kindle, Amazon's Wireless Reading Device looks like a dream come true. You don't need a computer, you buy the books right from the unit and they are sent to you in a minute. 

You can also subscribe to newspapers and big blogs & stuff like that, which is of less interest to me. But books! Quite inexpensive books at the touch of a button! No contracts or plans to join, the cost of the wireless transmission is included in the price of the books!

eg: I was looking for an Anne McCaffrey title, it was only $5.59 for the Kindle version and I could have been reading it RIGHT NOW if I had a Kindle. (compared to $7.99 plus postage for the hard copy & $21.99 plus postage for the audio book).

So, what's the catch you say? Other than the hefty price tag and the fact that this is a first generation product and the next one they release will probably be a lot better?

It's only available in the US. Of course.

*sigh*

 

Supernatural fans of Australia - ebay.com.au has this totally cool heavy die cast 1:24 scale 1967 Chevy Impala. Looks like it might get pricy though.

I remember doing this meme before - this is my desktop. The image is one of tardis80 's, of course. Her drawing always make me smile. 

Thanks to somniesperusfor the prompt!

I learned something today. I am utterly incapable of turning down free food. I could easily have stuck to the diet no matter what delicacies I had been tempted with in a store front.

But lay it all out on a table and tell me it's free... and I have no power to resist.

...it was good though.

One of Queensland's most prestigious private boys schools has told final-year students that they can not take partners of the same sex to their senior formal.

Seriously, what century is this? What country is this? haven't we got enough real problems in the world without worrying about a couple of boys dancing together at a school formal?

Title:  Remembering Dragons

Author: Gillian Middleton

Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis

Characters: Rodney McKay, John Sheppard.

Rating/Warnings: This is a gen story. G rated - no warnings!

Word Count: 3820

Summary: Part 2 in the Dragons of New Lantea Series.

Previous chapter: Part 1 - The Colonel And His Dragon

Pretty proud of our wee little Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, for his speech in China. John Howard would never had had the balls to speak up for Tibet, especially whilst actually in China.

Go Kev!

1. My username is gillianinoz because...
Because my name is Gillian and I come from Oz. Get it? 

*is lame*

2. My name is Gillian because...
Funny story there. It occurred to me that I'd never asked my mum why she named me Gillian, so I asked her. Turns out she remembers exactly why she named all my brothers and sisters (all six of them) but not how she came up with my name.Ah, the neglected middle child...

3. My journal is titled "There's Not A Moment To Lose!" because... 
Well, I change it as often as I change my layout, but right now I am deep into Master & Commander, and Captain Jack is famous for that saying. My layout right now is dragon based, but in a way Temeraire & Master & Commander are so intertwined that the quote and the layout seem to go together.

4. My default userpic is... Master & Commander right now, but it's time I made myself a new dragon one. :-)

 Two primary schools in Bristol have withdrawn children's books that present homosexual relationships in a positive light following protests by the Bristol Muslim Cultural Society. Read the story here.

The plus side for me is that I found out about this very cool picture book where the prince doesn't choose to marry a princess, but another prince! How cool is that??

King & King:
When the queen insists that the prince get married and take over as king, the search for a suitable mate does not turn out as expected.

So, iTunes came to the party and refunded my $26.99 for the audiobook. They sent me a very nice letter, apologising for the delay, promising they would look into it, assuring me the reversal of my credit charge would occur in the next five days, and gifting me with three free songs.

Pretty good, I guess.

I went back to iTunes - I should have realised when I bought the book that it was mislabelled - the others in the series labelled Unabridged are over 11 hours long, the Abridged ones are just over 6 hours long, as was the one I bought. The Unabridged are all over $40 too, and this one was a similiar price to the Abridged. Oh well - we live and learn.

I gave it a bad review - which is a shame - because I love the book itself so very much, but I felt the need to be honest, not just about the mislabelling - which I'm sure iTunes will correct - but about the truly horrendus reading of the dragons voices. *shudder* 

(Worst of all is that now, when I read the book, I hear that peevish, feeble voice when I read Temeraire's dialogue!) 

I really liked listening to a book though - I have previewed the samples of the other Unabridged ones in the series - they have a different reader - but the previews are too short to tell how this new reader does the voices. I would hate to spend $40+ and find I loathed the voices again!

I joined audiobooksand already downloaded some Terry Pratchett books - they also have all the Harry Potter books if anyone is interested.

 

 Argh!

It's bad enough I got the abridged version of His Majesty's Dragon when I paid for the unabridged. But the stuff they cut out! 

I finally gave in and bought an audiobook from iTunes. I've been toying with the idea for a while, especially since I started walking a lot for exercise. I also take long bus rides on the weekends, and I do get a little bored just listening to music.

I was considering a Master & Commander book - but they are very dear, $35+ so I held off. Then last night I had the brilliant idea of searching for Naomi Novik's Temeraire novels, and was thrilled to see all four. I chose the Unabridged - (I never did see the point of an Abridged novel) version of His Majesty's Dragon, the first in the series, and I shelled out the $26.99 - still very dear, but more affordable I thought.

I'd listened to the minute & a half sample, and quite liked the cultured English voice of the reader - David Thorn (although oddly I was expecting a woman's voice) .

Sadly the snippet they posted had no audio - I was pretty horrified when I downloaded it and began listening to find that it was a dramatic reading, with the reader attemptng various voice and accents. 

Oh. My. God. The voice he chose for Temeraire... I can hardly describe how bad it is. Feeble and childish, more suited to a character like Dobby from Harry Potter than a dragon. I was trying not to let it spoil the rest of the book for me when I had the second shock.

The bloody thing is Abridged. I mean, I know this book. I've read it so many times I could pick straight away when a passage was altered or shortened or just plain left out.

I've contacted iTunes, told them the thing was mislabelled - I want my money book or the actual Unabridged version of the book that I paid for. I'll wait and see what they have to say.

It's quite soured me on the whole audiobooks idea. Maybe I was spoiled by Stephen Fry reading the HP books - he made no attempt at accents or performance, just read the books in his beautiful voice. 

Has anyone else had any experiences with Audiobooks?

Do you ever think about how incredible it is, all of us slashers finding each other here? That so many of us love the same things, albeit in different ways - and that we find each other here and share and fight and happyhappy-joyjoy each other?

I still remember that first flash of wonder when I realised I wasn't alone. Long before the internet, when slash was typed out by intrepid heroes and photocopied by generous souls and bound into zines or sometimes just stapled together and posted.

The first time someone else put into words a desire that was barely half-formed in my mind and I was like "Yeah. Yeah, that's it." The first zine put in my hands, the first time I actually sat down and wrote something and gingerly proffered it to someone who snatched it up and printed it.

God, that we all found each other like survivors of a shipwreck clinging to little bits of driftwood. And now here we are, all buoyed up in this warm, fertile sea, telling stories and creating communities and all of us coming together because of slash, because we all like the idea of two guys in love with each other.

I think it's pretty incredible. Yay us!

Title:  The Colonel and His Dragon

Author: Gillian Middleton

Fandom: SGA

Pairings/Characters: Rodney McKay, John Sheppard. This is a gen story.

Rating/Warnings: G rated

Word count: 6300 words

Summary: Cut off from Earth on New Atlantis, John & Rodney stumble across a new race. Dragons!  Set after the Season Three finale - this is my AU version of Season Four.

Author's Note: Inspired by Naomi Novik's, Temeraire, and with all due love and respect for her. I adore her books so much, after reading them all I could think was that I wanted John to have a dragon too! Also for tardis80 - whose art always cheers me up, and who said she liked the idea of John & a dragon. Not forgetting my sister, Quill - who always encourages me - thanks!
 

A meme I can get behind! From chloe_amethyst

List 10 fictional characters you'd have sex with:

1.  Dr Stephen Maturin from The Master & Commander series

2.  Cpt. Jack Aubrey from The Master & Commander series

3.  Dr Rodney McKay from Stargate:Atlantis

4.  Col. John Sheppard from Stargate: Atlantis

5.  Dr Donald Mallard from NCIS

6.  Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs from NCIS

7.  Cpt. Will Laurance from the Temeraire series

8.  Cpt. Sam Vimes from the Discworld series

9.  Dean Winchester from Supernatural

10.  Sam Winchester from Supernatural

Chloe was right - it is hard to pick just 10!

Mind you, I'd trade sex with any of them to see them having sex with each other.  And what's with all the military types & doctors? Weird?

Hey - David Hewlett is coming to Brisbane. I live in Brisbane! I don't usually go to Cons these days - but... it's David Hewlett, guys. David Hewlett. Also, it's Brisbane, where hardly anyone interesting comes.

So, anyone in Brissy going? I'm thinking of the full convention package - $270 bucks gets me: 

(I paste)

VIP Weekend Ticket - $270.00
(Click here for full convention information)

• "A" Section Reserve Seating at "An Audience with David Hewlett"
• Autographed Photo of David Hewlett
• Admission to Guest Cocktail Party - Friday Evening, 7th November
• Admission to Guest Banquet - Saturday Night, 8th November
• Exclusive Conquest-Only Session with David Hewlett on Sunday, 9th November
• Additional Guests and Panels
• Access to All Areas of Convention and Activities
• Special Convention Programme Book
• Monthly Convention Updates

Squeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Things I appreciate:

• People who put links back to their main pages in their stories. How many time have you saved a story to read later, loved it & wanted to read more fic by that author? Life is so much easier if you can just click a link and find the rest of their work.

• People who actually have web pages for their fic. I really hate trolling backwards through journals looking for fic. Tags are good now too.

• Fan fiction. How brilliant is it to be able to dive into any world you love, whenever you feel like it?

• shalott

• Anything fried, which right now is denied to me. Oh, and cheese pizza with extra garlic and anchovies. Can you tell I'm dieting?

• Pokie machines, something I am also abstaining from.

• Patrick O'Brian's Master & Commander series. I am currently reading #13 The Thirteen Gun Salute The entire series is a love story between Jack & Stephen.

• The fact that shalott wrote Master & Commander stories. Oh yeah.

 growyourwings posted about the latest Supernatural episode, Mystery Spot, and I wanted to post my resonse here as well, for posterity.

So, it's Sorry Day here in Oz - which is kind of a lame name, I know. But I totally agree with the sentiment and I don't really get why politicians seemed to find it hard to say for so long.

People I know seem a bit peeved about the idea of personally having to say sorry for something they themselves never actually did - heck, in my case, my parents weren't even living in this country and I wasn't even born!

But I get it, and I agree with it, because, personally, this is more like us saying I'm sorry it happened at all, you know. Like you express condolences to someone who's lost a loved one, or who's been hurt somehow.

So, the country is saying sorry for The Stolen Generation, and the individuals are saying we're sorry you had to go through that.

And bloody right too. You know what, I live in a pretty low socio-economic area, I have seen the worst of every culture around me, Indigenous, European, Vietnamese, Samoan, Tonga, Italian, Greek, Sudanese, Eritrean. I've seen the best too, but I have seen some pretty sad and troubled people, and when it comes to the Indigenous families locally I have seen first hand what the brutal ripping apart of family and the abuse so many suffered at the hands of their 'rescuers' has cost them and their descendants.

I understand why the do-gooders in the fifties tried to take Indigenous kids away - I really do - Sadly I see kids at school I would love to take away from their parents all the time, (kids of every race, creed & colour.) And this was the fifties, where Whites reigned supreme and confidently and arrogantly thought that their ways were the ONLY ways, not just the best ways. They honestly thought, in their narrow minded British heads, that they were doing the right thing for these half-caste kids by taking them out of the bush and putting them in homes run by Christian priests (cos that always works out so well), or in some cases handing them over like slave labour to remote properties and never bothering to check on their welfare again. 

Except that these kids grew up to be seriously fucked up, and to drink and chrome and take drugs and abuse their own kids. Gee, I wonder why.

Stealing these kids - that act was just so huge & colossally EVIL... we are still paying for it today in the complete and total destruction of Indigenous culture - and the effect that has on society as a whole, especially in a suburb like this.

Want some nightmares? Read the:

 Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families

I cannot believe it! Harry Potter & The Mysterious Ticking Noise is available as a downloadable ringtone from Optus.com!

That is so cool.