rebelxxwaltz

After reading xiilnek's comments about Life on Mars Sims, I decided to start a new game with customized Gene and Sam characters moving into a small house together. Let's just say that these two had a very eventful first night…

( Read past here if you are interested in the hilarious behavior of Gene and Sam Sims. )

A little over two months ago while sitting on a train from Albany NY to NYC Penn Station, I was served a drabble prompt by il_mio_capitano. The challenge was of course also extended to littleotter73, who was on a train heading north from Washington DC to meet me at Newark airport. All of us were due to meet in London the following day after an overnight flight.

With the thought in mind being "Surely they can produce a 'train' drabble. They're both ON A TRAIN," the prompt was served. As usual, I fail at being timely. I started this drabble a week or two after we returned from England, and just finished it the other night. Without further ado please enjoy this hotly anticipated one hundred word Giles and Ethan moment, heavily inspired by a London trip full of wine and good-natured bickering. :D

Train

"This wine is complete rubbish," drawled Ethan, his face a mask of inebriated contempt.

Giles frowned in disapproval. "It seems tolerable," his cheek twitched in hesitation, "considering we're drinking in a train station."

"Hmmph. St Pancras is a bloody dump and they've got a Champagne bar." The Son of Chaos poked disgustedly at his food with a snobbish fork tine. "…and what is this food supposed to be when it's at home?"

"It's supposed to be eaten, I assume." Giles removed his glasses and squeezed the bridge of his nose.

Ethan smirked, rejoicing in his companion's discomfort. "Another bottle then?"

Hey, dudes!

As usual I haven't been making a lot of entries lately. For one thing, I've been very busy at my new job. Things are going really well for us so far, and work continues to be more fun than I can remember it being in years. It helps to work for a company that actually seems to know how to treat people and enjoy life alongside everything else. Talk to me in about six months and I'll let you know if that rosy perception lives on. :P

I signed up for summer_of_giles, and I hope you did too! Not 100% sure yet what I'll be offering this year... I'm either going to finish Rebel Waltz or offer a new portion of my Ivory Tower AU. Most likely it'll be the former since that fic is positively screaming for my attention, and I'm not sure if I can get a whole new chunk of AU finished by the end of July.

What else... oooh! I participated in a Life on Mars icon challenge over at the lifein1973 community! That was fun. I just posted my finished icons today if anybody wants to check them out... I'm not all that skilled with icon making, but I think they turned out okay! Find them here. ^_~

Hmm... I suppose that's about it. What has everybody else been up to lately?

Wishing a very happy birthday to lynnylou today. Hope it's a good one! ^_^

Twenty hours of travel, as I'm sure some of you know, can make you feel like a bit of a creature. littleotter73 can verify this. We were already punchy by the time we met up at Newark airport, and had accidentally invented at least one new word (I think it was "squeer" but I'm not sure what it was supposed to mean) by the time we were served supper on our overnight flight. By the time we reached our meeting place at a pub in Camden Town eight or nine hours after that, The Otter was so beyond tired that she needed ale just to stay upright. :P

We've settled into our very comfortable residence in Camden along with il_mio_capitano and catchoo152. Last night there was Italian food and impressive amounts of wine. Fortunately there are enough couches in the front room that we are each able to sprawl individually. Now that we've had a good night's sleep we are just about human again! A shortened visual summary of the limited activities of yesterday is available here:

Uneventful first day photos

Not sure what this day will bring, but I am sure that il_mio_capitano just brought me some toast, and therefore this post is over. ^_~

So... I am actually on a train right now. That is the one and only point of this entry. Yes-- at age twenty nine I still find it snicker-worthy that I am able to make an LJ post while riding a train. -_-

Will be in New York city in about two hours, where I will languish in Penn Station waiting for it to be time for my airport train. Therefore, humor me and let me enjoy this until the novelty inevitably wears off...

Why is it that I always think of my suitcase as vaguely 'big'... until it's time to pack? Then I look at it and wonder, "HOW AM I GOING TO FIT EVERYTHING?!" *sigh*

In any case, I'll be leaving my house in less than 24 hours for this super-amazing trip to London, a Transatlantic journey that will be largely shared with littleotter73. This should prove very interesting-- the last three or four times I've traveled to Europe, I've done so all on my own. Having a travel companion should spice things up a bit. Plus, I'll have someone to compete with at Virgin Atlantic's in-flight Tetris. Ah, the important things in life. :P

I'm simply breathless with anticipation to revisit Newark Liberty International Airport, where I experienced a nine hour delay at the outset of last year's London trip. Nine hour delay, mostly in the middle of the night while everything is shut and there's nothing to do but walk around and test your new camera. This results in what is affectionately known as:

Photo Essay of Newark Airport (click here)

Ahem, anyway, yes. At least I learned some valuable information from this, such as the location of every restroom in Terminal B and where to get the largest glass of wine in the entire airport universe. Hopefully this time I can use this knowledge for enjoyment rather than cold, harsh survival.

Has anyone guessed yet that this entire entry is a procrastination tactic relating to the fact that I haven't finished my laundry or even starting putting anything in my suitcase yet? Oh. You guessed as soon as I started babbling about in-flight Tetris? I see.

Well then... *starts running around in circles with arms in the air, panicking*

It occurs to me that I am leaving for London in a week. There are so many things to do, mostly annoying little things that will take five minutes or less, but in typical me fashion the only thing I keep thinking is: must finish watching BBC Sherlock. *sigh*

Oh well, it can't be helped. At least I was smart enough this time around to give myself three nice big fat days off before my flight leaves to do all those things I keep forgetting about. Also, I require a haircut. I refuse to leave for London looking like a shaggy dog, with or without a shoe hanging out of its mouth. :P

Speaking of shoes, I must remember to pack an extra pair of sock monkey bedroom slippers for littleotter73. I know how jealous she will be if she sees mine and doesn't get her own pair (note to readers other thanlittleotter73: The Otter hates sock monkies with unrestrained passion).

Beyond that, my outlook for our day of departure is basically as follows:

1. 11:30am: Get on the train in Albany
2. 4:30pm: Meet Otter at Newark Liberty and check-in at the Virgin Atlantic counter
3. 4:35pm: Airport bar.

That sounds reasonable, right? Right?!

*skulks off into the corner, wearing a bathrobe and cradling a bottle of wine*

Ahem. Anyway, yeah. Vacation-y goodness awaits. Sosososososo excited, in case that didn't come across in the dubiously constructed body of this entry! ^_^

Here is the latest in a proud tradition of LiveJournal entries that start with me saying, "Oh it has been so long since I've made an entry." In the interest of time, we'll just skip the bit where I make excuses and get onto the good stuff (such as it is). ^_^

There are a lot of exciting things going on right now, which is cool, but kind of scrambles my brains all the same. For one thing, I'm off to London in exactly *looks at calendar* nineteen days. Fuckity fuck, I didn't even actually realize it was that soon! This time I'll have a companion on my transatlantic crossing-- the lovely littleotter73, of course. We'll be meeting in Newark and taking our flight to Heathrow together. We've rented what appears to be an awesome apartment in Camden Town with other fandom buddies il_mio_capitano and catchoo152. I've not had the pleasure of meeting these two in person, so I'm really looking forward to it! It's going to be, like, a fandom reality series where we all live together and write drunken fan fiction. Hmm... that actually sounds pretty good. *writes pilot episode*

Also in London are several of my friends, including one of my besties and a former college roommate. With all these people to visit, I'll need to pack lots of clothes and shoes. I already refilled my Oyster card and made sure there's still some juice in my UK mobile phone. The Otter keeps threatening to perpetrate grievous bodily harm against my shoe collection when I fail to do important stuff like read her drabbles or work on my own fic updates instead of posting derpy Life on Mars screen caps to tumblr. But I can't really complain; it's not like she doesn't humor me. Like a true friend, she simply participates in my obsessions-- we just finished watching all of Life on Mars together. We watched both series of Mad Dogs, too. This is in addition to our weekly Downton Abbey viewing parties... and she wonders why I have no time for fic updates?! Isn't life just full of these Catch 22 situations? But yes. London in less than three weeks. Sosososososo excited!

Speaking of fic... I'm a little late in mentioning it, but I won an award! YAY! Well, actually I didn't win. I was the runner up in the 'Best NC-17- Het' category at the Sunnydale Memorial Fanfiction Awards with Brits Do It Better. I still feel like I won, though, so that's the important thing:



Thanks to whoever nominated and/or voted for me-- I was incredibly honored to be included, and shocked that I ended up placing! Congratulations to everyone else that won, too. ^_^

In other news, I may be changing jobs very very soon. I've had two successful phone interviews, and an in-person final is scheduled for next Wednesday. If all goes to plan, when I return from London I'll be flying to Chicago or Salt Lake City for training, and by the middle of April I'll be part of a small team opening a new store for Carhartt-- only their sixth in the country! Wish me luck, because I'm really hoping this works out.

What else... well, I've been cheating on Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom with Life on Mars fandom. That's nothing new, though. Not gonna lie-- I'm slightly in love with LoM fandom. it's full of people who are at least as fabulously insane as I am! The common denominator is that everyone seems to want me to pay more attention to my LJ duties, so here I am. *hugs everyone from every fandom* <3

As usual, me containing my excitement ends up looking like me puking words all over the LJ page. Oh well, think about it this way-- at least I don't make entries very often! ^_~

Just wanted to take a second to wish a very happy birthday to seldomifever!

Hope it's a good one. ^_^