(no subject)

[minxy]

Teh committee have been upgraded from 'ebil' to 'divas' status, with exceptions made for two of them; one seems pretty marvelous but a little too busy to really help, and the other a bit too much of a yes-person; it remains to be seen whether she and he, respectively, will be any help at all in the MIA advisor/micromanaging other committee person/prima donna committee situation.

The upgrade is only tentative, btw. Have, however, made two important decisions: 1. I will be throwing myself a Not Walking party (Mom's idea) so that I get to hang out with my double-doctor classmates really a lot even if I don't get to go to the Ph.D. hooding ceremony this year (my party will be better than the hooding ceremony, though, because there will be comfortable clothes, no speeches and freely flowing alcohol), 2. I am contacting a professor from a college here who is familiar with all the personalities on my committee to one degree or another, and who can help me prioritize who to placate first and whether a plan more detailed than just general groveling is in order. There may be food involved. Food is good.

Of course, you gotta understand that I had, oh, 14-15 hours yesterday to sleep on these decisions on account of my brain mutinied and objected to, among other things, vision, light, movement and food. I love my migraine meds for controlling the side-effects, but there's no getting around the sleepy-loopy Minx syndrome that causes me to marathon sleep and stumble into walls the rest of the time. So I'm feeling really well rested today, though still having some trouble focusing my brain.

Dog is in for orthopedic surgery today. Can you imagine? The difficulty is likely to be explaining to her that 4 months of recovery will require Not Spazzing Out and/or running anywhere during that time, and probably after. I've written a moving speech, but I think The Talk will have to wait until she gets off the codeine (seriously, that is going to be funny as hell. I find my puppy hilarious when she's stoned, which is probably not very nice of me) then I can get out my note cards and diagrams.

ANYWAY, since these lovely uplifting details are probably not why you read my journal, I give you, RECS. (also, note the gorgeous Teyla default icon at right by rojimouse. Seriously, Rachel Lutrell is gorgeous. I think I'm going to have to crush on her a little bit.)

First of all, naominovik's His Majesty's Dragon was not on my favorite bookstore's shelves yet. It makes me sad, but I'm always willing to go back to a bookstore. They promise to search it out for me when the truck arrives tomorrow. No, I didn't leave empty handed. I'm not physically capable of leaving a bookstore empty handed.

Read Neil Gaimon's Coraline in between sleeping bouts yesterday and it was a fantastic story about bravery. Loved that it was so durned unique in it's portrayal of a little girl with faults and strengths, none of which were cliche, all of which felt very True. The fantasy aspect was interesting and creepy, which adds to my feeling that this book does not assume that young readers are too fragile for sincere danger in their books and makes me want to cheer (no, I haven't read Gaimon before, yes, I will read more of him). Also loved that the hero was a little girl. Sometimes reading fanfic I'm reminded of the quote from someone who's name I forget that it's really a shame when girls want to be/write themselves as the victim or the object in a story rather than the hero. This little girl was a great hero, complete with faults and learning curve.

Natalie Portman in V for Vendetta was a very interesting hero, on the other hand (does anyone object to me not using the word 'heroine'? If I don't want to be the victim I certainly don't want to be a drug either). But I don't really feel like getting into that movie, except that it got my Dad reminiscing about Vietnam War protests when he was in college in Ohio.

Yadda. Right.

janedavitt wrote a lovely little spanking fic as character study in a tag for Maternal Instinct. No Harm Done. Sadly, no sex either, but it's still Jack and Daniel, and there is great physicality and snickerworthy manipulation of Jack (just... not like that). Comment f/b at her journal.

The sixth and penultimate installment of The Games Men Play, Splashdown, has been posted by dustandroses (links to earlier parts in the post for this one). This is really grand Jack/Daniel smut in the sense of the zing for each section really standing out, with development and realizations and intimacy in each section, every time very well done, a new revelation and really a great sense of a new relationship between old friends. Splashdown hooks me in particular by writing one of my very favorite things: awkward sex. In this case, awkward sex really exemplifying how close the two people involved are, how well they handle it, how hard they laugh, how they deal, and the realizations that trump physical need for intimacy. It's fantastic bad!sex. Really.

The google search engines are going to have a field day with that description. Oh well, there are only so many ways to mistype pr0n.

Some John/Rodney: Things Left Unsaid by elandrialore. I hadn't read this author before, but I like the way John and Rodney communicate in this; plus, it's really nice smut. Also Rodney's panicking really works for me.

Also, a beautiful tragic little moment in the back of a puddlejumper: Reaction by mamadebfic. There's really impressive complexity for such a short piece.

Comments

[lunachickk.livejournal.com]

*puts on vet cap*
What kind of orthopedic surgery?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

TPLO surgery for the equivalent of the ACL in her left knee.

[lunachickk.livejournal.com]

Awww, poor baby. Tell her to take it easy after the surgery and to be very glad it's not my old boss doing her surgery. His technique scared me. *shudders*
And kiss her nekkid little chicken leg for me. ;)

[amnellwyvern.livejournal.com]

Hopefully the committee will stay upgraded *g* I'm glad to hear that you're feeling a little better today and I hope your puppy recovers from surgery well.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

The upside of migraines, besides the fact that there is good, effective medication for them, is that they are only around for a finite period of time. I'm only a bit cobwebby now. Sleepy again, though. *yawn*

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

i hope the surgery went well. and that the committee issue keeps getting better. *hugs*

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

Oh man, if they got better my life would be so much easier. Let's hope.

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

*hoping*

and {{{more hugs}}}

[paian]

Hope the upgrade sticks, and the surgery goes well and puppy recovers quickly. The Not Walking party's a great idea (yay Mom!).

Thanks for the SGA recs! Really enjoyed 'em both.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

[Mom] Hell yeah it's a great idea! Plus, it'll be so much more fun. With booze. And comfortable shoes.[/Mom]

Those SGA authors were total surprises and I loved finding them. Both new to the fandom but not to writing, I believe. I was doing a lot of experimental authors, and unfortunately did run into the term 'pulsing pole of man-meat' (I'm trying to convince myself that they were kidding), but those two made it worth it.

We're going to go get the drugged up, tripping puppy in about an hour.

[paian]

Comfortable shoes! Comfortable clothes! No speeches! It will be Good.

Very happy to reap the rewards of your wide-ranging reading. *g*

::sends soothing thoughts puppyward::

::also hugs to your way-cool mom::

[elandrialore.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for reccing me, I really appreciate it:)

And I hope your puppy's surgery went well too.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

You are so welcome. Beautiful fic, I'm looking forward to reading more of your stuff.

Surgery went well but now we have a pup in pain who doesn't get why or why we aren't making it better. Poor thing.

[incredulity.livejournal.com]

Yay for Neil Gaiman! I love "Coraline". He's one of my favorite authors.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

I can't even count the number of people who told me I ought to read him. It was really impressive to finally do so and have the book live up to the hype. Love that.

[dustandroses.livejournal.com]

Good luck on the puppy and the upgrade (Being nice to the professor who knows their ways is a really smart move.) Yay for your mom, too. Great idea for a party.

Oh, and Neil Gaiman? So good. I found his Sandman Graphic Novels years ago, and I still love them. Imagine being Dream (the Sandman) - one of your sisters would be Death, and she's all Goth. She actually reminds me of Abby...except she's not as obsessed with "death" as Abby is. (She'd never sleep in a coffin.) My icon is one artist's idea of her. I love Gaiman,he is so freakin' cool. He actually has a blog, and you can get his feed. He updates a lot. Like sometimes three or four times a day. And he reads his fan mail and answers it on line. Fascinating guy.

It's odd that I've actually read all the fanfic you're rec'ing. Of course it's a small post... All good, but I just loved Things Left Unsaid. Wow. Some nice stuff, and hot, too. I'll be watching for her again.

Oh, yeah...thanks! :::blushes:::

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

Man, I've been so out of it, I'm not surprised at all that this week people are ahead of me with the fanfic. Could also just be post-ficathon lull in the posting, but you've posted! Other people should be posting for meeeeeee. Don't they know I need the escapism?

Although I'm tempted to run to Gaiman to escape. You've sold me on Sandman, but how is your icon only one artist's rendition, wouldn't it all be drawn by the same person?

[becky-monster.livejournal.com]

*looks at your recs... looks at mine...*

Great minds think alike huh?;)

As for your reading... *puts librarian hat on* it's spelled GaimAN. And yes, he is a god-like genius of writing.

I'll second dustandroses rec for 'Sandman'. I cannot reccie these stories highly enough. Her icon comes from Death's first appearance in the series (she appears from time to time, like Jacob did in SG-1 *sob*) and she just lights up the comic book.

The story is thus, the great forces are personified, Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction (the prodigal), Desire, Despair (who are twins) and Delirium (who used to be Delight). They are a family commonly known as the Endless.

Like with all families, they have their fallingouts. They are all disparate personalities.
Of all of these, the two that will win you over will be Dream (the 'hero' of the story) and Death. If you don't fall in love with Death, then I really do pity you. Heck, I'm straight but... daymn!;)

There is a strong dose of horror in the first set of stories (collected as 'Preludes and Nocturnes') but don't let that put you off. The final story is just amazing.

Starter stories - 'The Sound of Her Wings' #8 (printed in both P&N and 'The Dolls House - collection #2) 'Dream of a Thousand Cats' #18 (? - reprinted in the 'Dream Country' collection) seriously, you'll never look at cats in the same way ever again!

This is a comic book, but it is also one of the best instances of literature that I have ever read. Ten years on, I can still quote parts of it (the last story from 'The Wake') and it still makes me cry.

I'd also recommend 'Stardust' (soon to be a movie directed by Matthew Vaughn - Layer Cake) and 'American Gods' as novels. With the former - try to get the version that's a graphic novel. Charles Vess' art is just amazing!

Your local library should be able to find these for you. I have been seriously considering the Novik novel (it's called 'Temparie' in Blighty) but given that I'm about three books behind (the new Sarah Waters, the second book of hte Black Magician Trilogy and my current book: The Historian - Dracula takes a shine to librarians) there is no bloody hope.
Then again... I do get paid today:D

Oh hecky - I'll go now...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

Temaraire/His Majesties Dragon sounds like the kind of book I gulp down in the space of a few hours, so I have no problem putting that on my reading list. Though the Waters book Fingersmith is the book I walked out of the store with, and I also have a book about the science and history of th pyramids, Wicked by Gregory Maguire and Jonathan Stange and Mr. Norrell, which I've been meaning to read for aaaaaages.

I'm hoping to catch up with my reading after the defense... whenever that may be.

[kellifer-fic.livejournal.com]

Read Neil Gaimon's Coraline in between sleeping bouts yesterday and it was a fantastic story about bravery.

*sigh* I love this book. I have a beautiful illustrated version... :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

I think I'm really going to have to read some of his other stuffs. I mean, the recs in the comments alone...

[doolabug.livejournal.com]

Hi!
I found you via paian and have been lurking around a bit and enjoying your recs. Thank you for supplying the good crack! Also, I just finished my PhD in December so I'm totally feeling your pain. Do you mind if I Friend you?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

Oh, please do. Your handle alone is enough to make me pretty darn sure we'll get along (hee! underwater!) Thanks for piping up about the recs, it's always nice to hear, and if you have any great wisdom about defending, please let me know. *g*

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for rec'ing my story, and for your kind words.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

Most welcome. I'm not so much with the brevity, myself, so I'm extra impressed when someone manages to say so much in a short piece.

They all *waves in an abstract way at other commenters* have nothing but good things to say as well.