raw particles of inspiration

I'm only resurfacing from the craziness that is NaNoWriMo (36K as of yesterday!) to share this:



A yarn store on New Zealand sent out a call for help from knitters all over the world - to knit sweaters for the penguins who were affected by the oil spill. The sweaters serve a dual purpose - to keep the penguins warm until they're well enough to be cleaned, and to prevent them from ingesting the oil on their feathers. The response was overwhelming!


Skeinz penguin sweater blog can be found here

I seem to have had a birthday this year too. Thank you everyone for the well-wishes and thank you hildejohanne for the cute v-gift! I also got a couple of beautiful stories:

bluespirit_star wrote Security Blanket, an awwww-inducing H50 snuggle ficlet.

sgamadison wrote The Best Gift of All, a birthday story set in her lovely Cabin series.

Thank you so much everyone! You really made my day :D

I've been insanely busy lately. My choir is having the annual autumn concert this weekend and there's been a lot of extra practices, plus I managed to get roped into helping to plan next year's spring concert so I've had extra meetings on top of everything. I almost had to admit defeat and go buy a cake for work last Friday and I haven't bought a birthday cake since... I actually don't think I've ever had a store-bought cake. However, I somehow found the time to bake - lemon-lime pie instead of cake, but it was delicious and my co-workers liked it.

My family came over for dinner on Saturday and I fed them salmon with blue cheese sauce and more pie. I got the latest Pratchett from Mum and a new coffee maker from dad (my old one broke two weeks ago and since I've mostly switched to tea anyway, I had put off getting a new one, but dad was worried he won't get any coffee when he comes to visit...) My sister got me a set of cheap wineglasses that I can break with a good conscience. She knows me so well. Best of all - Mum promised to pay for my dentist appointment next week! I'm having a new crown put in and I've actually been more panicked about the cost than the actual procedure. I might be able to afford to eat this month after all!


November is getting closer and I still have a lot of NaNo plotting to do. I seem to be having the same problem as always - my group of protagonists are fine and fleshed out, but I have no idea who my villains are. Ah, well. There's still another week to go so with a little luck I should have it figured out until then.

So, what's going on with you?

Where did the time go? I'm going back to work again on Monday, hopefully rested enough to deal with more stupid customers. Mom and Dad came home from Naples earlier this week and had brought me wine. They know me so well! Stupid!cat spent all day yesterday catching the same field mouse and bringing it into the house where he proceeded to chase it all around the hall. We got hold of the poor little thing and released it into the wild, and stupid!cat hurried after it to catch it all over again.

I'm ending my vacation with a bang. Tomorrow, I'm heading out to a friends' cabin for our annual barbecue party! Plenty of good food, probably a little too much to drink, many many strange conversations and a whole lot of laughing. Yay!

You might have noticed by now that I like to cook. What you probably don't know is that sometimes, I tend to cook obsessively. Once I get started, I just can't stop! Today was one of those days. I'm sure my friends will appreciate it tomorrow...

( Food! )

The sun is shining, I have a date tonight, and life is generally pretty much okay.

I hereby declare this day Multifandom Bulletproof Vest Day.


(Kono don't need no stinkin' vest. She repels bullets with the sheer force of her awesomeness.)

( This way to more hotness... )

This is a good day :)

* The sun is shining, the snow is finally beginning to melt away and there is a whisper of spring in the air. Not even my rude customers will be able to wipe the smile off my face today :D

* I have next to no free time this week due to choir practice, choreography practice and stage decorations and it's all worth it because our concert this weekend will be utterly awesome.

* Alex O'Loughlin is ridiculous. All is well with the world.

(cropped, cause the original pic might possibly be triggering for abuse even if it's just make-up.)

* I had a great dream tonight. I don't remember all the details, but I was a reporter and I got to meet one of my favourite artists (don't remember who, might have been either Regina Spektor or Ani DiFranco) and ask her about her three favourite songs from the past century. Unfortunately, my alarm went off just as she was about to answer, but I woke up in a very good mood.

Just because I'm curious - I know it's often subject to change but right now in this moment, which are your three favourite songs in the world? Songs that make you happy, songs that you can listen to ten times in a row without getting tired of them, songs that automatically pop up in your head when someone asks you about your favourite music? Please share!

( These are my happymaking songs of the day... )

Dear curling ladies,
You are great and inspirational and I care a thousand times more about this gold than the stupid hockey we didn't win. Please never stop being awesome and congratulations to your second olympic gold in a row.

Much love,
Zin