According to this morning's special tribute "celebration" on Meet The Press, Tim Russert had that phrase hanging on the wall of his office.

( More on that and other ramblings )

*pushes massive rock aside and squints at the gorgeous setting sun...*

Damn, it's been awhile since I engaged in this thing called updating, has it not? A long, long, long while. Shame, shame, shame on me. There were/are many validyetboring reasons for that. But they are for another day. Today is a special day, alive and beautiful in the boring-free, whine-free zone.

I wanted to edge out from under this rock for a moment and wish everyone a Happy JCandJustin Day!! 'Tis 3/18, their sacred and exclusive 24 hours of celebration! Their love is not to be forgotten, yaknow, not even by AWOL slackers such as yours truly! And although inspiration and motivation decided to be bitches and weren't on my side and refused to show me any kindness this year so that I could produce a contribution of my own (boofuckinghissgrr), I am totally enjoying all the festivities going on over at juc_day. I'm hoping some of it will rub off on me and hyperboost my deadass creative brain cogs for some near-future "juicy" goodness.

Many thanks to Beth for the nod she gave me in her fabulous rec list! I much appreciate being included in such awesome company! You're a dear, my dear!

Anyway. I'm still around here in these parts, trying to lurk and stay in touch with the world of this fandom as well as a couple of others. I miss being active! Doh! But really. Just wanted to say a big ol' HI so that I'm not forgotten either. : )

Enjoy the Day 'O JuC Luv, you guys! ♥

Hello and Happy Somewhere-Between-May-Day-and-Cinco-de-Mayo!

Hope the week is going well for folks out there so far. Mine has been tolerable, even good. I survived an early dinner (before work) with coworkers at IHOP yesterday -- and was promptly reminded of the Great Big Why I haven't been in an IHOP in about 20 years. Ugh. Just SO Very Not worth my $7.59. But at least it was filling. Do you think they'd be happy with that review? It's the best I can muster without going totally negative and boring you to tears. Yeah. I picked On The Border when it was my turn to choose the restaurant. And no one had a stomach ache afterward either.

Anyway. Enough of that. I really popped in to let those who are still interested know that I kept my promise and updated "A Tale Of Two Romances" today. Finally. Whew. What a relief off my mind. And I swear I won't wait so damn long to get more of it out next time. I need to wrap that thing up, actually. (And yes, I've been saying that for years too.)

If you'd like to read the five new chapters, they can be found in my LJ fiction community (and on my web site as of, say, tomorrow -- didn't quite have time to put them up there just yet). Reminder: it's Basez and Justin/OFC, if you weren't aware of the pairings.

Toodles!

Part 104

Part 105

Part 106

Part 107

Part 108

Edit on 5/4 (Happy Birthday, Lance!!!): If you prefer, you can now read it on the Web site. :)

Ah, not a typical sentiment you're likely to see -- as an LJ subject header or anything else, for that matter. Right?

Well, I do. It keeps me terribly busy, and there's a LOT of stress and "you're the company's bottom-line of defense against errors" responsibility, but I can honestly say I enjoy going to it and spending time doing it. And I've never been able to say that about a job before in my long history of jobs. It's a little several-hours-long adrenaline rush that I've come to need every week day. I actually feel lost if I miss my fix. Crazy, I know. But I thought I'd share that while it's still true. Who knows how long it'll be before I'm cussing all to hell everything and everyone associated with the place. lol

Anyway, I'm just posting for the sake of peeking in and updating. Not much really to say. Everything is basically cool with me and mine. No crises or tragedies or major lottery wins. Ha. I'm good. Off-line a lot more than I used to be, and that's a positive, refreshing thing. Trust me. Ha.

I did some jabbering today in my fiction community (mb__fiction) about a big update to an old Basez series I'm planning to do in the next few days. If you're a reader of (or even vaguely remember) "A Tale Of Two Romances" that I've been writing for centuries now, you can check out what I thought you needed to know before I post the new chapters. And that is here.

Time now to get ready for work. :)

Have a great weekend, everyone! :)

Sorry for the suspense, folks. Wasn't my idea nor my doings at all. LJ forced it on me. Beeatch.

Anyway, here's the rest of it. Again, cross-posted in juc_day where you should go next and join in the joyous celebration of JuC-ness. :)


( THE SHINY SILVER BOX - 2 of 2 )

Happy JuC Day, everyone! It's that cherished holiday once again! And I have a long one to contribute/share today.

It started out as a short, sweet, fluffy thing......and then grew to be a longlonglong lots-of-everything-included-in-here thing. Still plenty of sweet-n-fluffy, though. I didn't lose sight of that. So I hope you like it. :)

For tons more JuC goodness, please take yourselves over to juc_day where this is being cross-posted. And indulge!

Big hugs and kisses to Bianca westchester_777 for her fast and expert beta turnaround. She's as important to me as my muse. Thank you, babes.

I warned you now. Longlonglong with some sweetandfluffy added in. Rated: TVMA.

ETA: I have to post it in two parts because LJ is being a shitty bitchface today and won't accept the full monty all in one swallow. Some LJ's kids, I swear. Argh.


( THE SHINY SILVER BOX - 1 of 2 )

According to news, paid accounts now have 30 spots for iconage rather than 15! Woo hoo! Justin time for JuC Day!

I was glad to see this post and just had to share quickly. Must get back now to hurriedly whipping my story contribution into good enough shape to send to my wonderful beta guru. Since she is half-of-the-planet or more away from me, JuC Day comes many hours earlier for her than it does for me. So I must give her a decent amount of time to go through this monster. And the days of anticipation are ticking by waaaay too quickly. Eek!

Many warm thankyous to the kind, anonymous soul who gifted me with the sweet virtual rose last night. The sentiment/message you sent along with it was very thoughtful and generous and made me smile. Thanks a plenty. *hugs* :)

Oh, my. I should update this baby. Really. I should.

Since I haven't done so yet this year. (What? Seriously?) So how about I begin by trying some bullets? Another first for me. In any year. Yeah, I know. A real practiced LJer. Go, me. lol

• First off, I hope erryone is having a splendid V-Day. Mine is going beautifully so far. Many thanks to 1107red for the pretty rose that now adorns my user info page! Thank you, sweetie! That is truly kind. :)



• I've been a bit sickly of late. Chest cold, aches, sinus yuckiness, congestion in every living cell of my body. It comes and goes. And it's really fucking with my newly implemented diet-and-exercise program I was will be doing so great on again soon. Damnit.



• The job is going like jobs go. At the same never-a-dull-moment, whirlwind-like pace every day. But I was warned. And it's certainly living up to the promises. Hey. I'm never bored. There's always that, right? Ha.



• Surprisingly, I'm still getting the lovely trickle-in feedback for Tennessee Lullaby which makes me squeeee. And I've honestly started on the next chapter(s) of ATOTR too. Seriously. After well over a year. Must get busting on that JuC Day idea spinning around up in there too. Soon. It's quickly approaching. *sigh*



• Not much else new. JC's looking great in all of his latest public outings. Yeah, I know. That's not new. And Justin. Oh, my sweet boy, Justin. I refrained from clicking on his b'day pics because of the, well, Hag Factor. You know. Ugh. But I saw most of the Sundance ones and the golfing ones and was mighty proud of him. Lance? Cracks. Me. Up. Enough said.
  
  
• I've been taking it easy (hello, sick) and doing some reading lately. Nicholas Sparks' two recent ones, namely, True Believer and At First Sight. The ever-amusing Ms. B (westchester_77) sent me the "Brokeback Mountain" short story, and I mustmustmust see the flick now. *sobs* Yes, babes. I owe you an e-mail too. 'Tis forthcoming. :)
  

Guess that's it for now. And that's plenty, eh? Enjoy the day, folks. Toodles. :)

The final Friday of 2005, and I have lots to do to get ready for the New Year weekend. So I'll make this brief. Or I'll give it my best shot. Haha

I have lotsandlotsandlots of the series prepared to post today. Which I will soon do. There is, however, one small section/scene that is not finished yet (started but not complete), but since it doesn't involve JC and Justin nor does it influence the plot in any way whatsoever, I am going to omit it for now and give you everything else. After I've finished it (later this weekend), I will gladly post it and let you know where in this series of chapters it was/is to go.

Again, it won't hurt anything at all at this point for it to be temporarily missing. I simply didn't want to hold the rest of this stuff up another day or two just because that part wasn't ready to go. 'Kay?

Anyway. Here you go with the lotsandlotsandlots. It may help to go back and read Chapters 83 and 84 again (or at least skim over them) to get your bearings on what's been going down. FYI: this chapter begins when we're still at the Bassenbaum wedding reception. ;)

As always, thank you so much for reading. I do honestly appreciate it. :)

Happy & Safe New Year to everyone!


This Dance We Do
Chapter 85 et al

(cross-posted to mb__fiction)

I’m just bee-bopping in briefly to 4-1-1 those who care about the next update to TDWD. ‘Kay? Hee :)

Since there are several pertinent, flurrious, and time-intensive situations going on around us all right about now -- such as the fact that the Christmas holiday is, like, within a few eyelashes of being on us and tons of folks are busy getting ready for that, traveling and stuff for that, or just offline in general because of that or because of other reasons, etc. -- AND such as the fact that I still have a bit of shopping and whatnot to do myself to finish preparing for the festivities -- AND such as the fact that the SeSa Challenge stories will be unveiled around the world this weekend for all to revel in and enjoy -- I’ve decided to wait until the middle of next week to post further chapters of TDWD. I know it's a bit of a long haul between updates, but this is the best choice, I think. It'll work out. Trust me. Ha.

The muses have been galactically generous to me this season, and I’ve gotten so much accomplished with the series that is all ready to share. But by taking a breather and waiting ‘til everything settles down a bit, I will have ample time to finish even more for you, and you will have ample time then, perhaps, to get through it all. Okay?

So enjoy your holidays this weekend, everyone, and expect to hear from me again in about a week with ridiculous amountages of fiction. Have a safe, delightful, holly-jolly one and Happy Ho-Ho-HO!
nd Happy Ho-Ho-HO!

......the damn power is off for hoursandhoursandhours. Like it was yesterday, due to a nasty ice storm. Almost 24 hours, to be exact. Argh. "OMG. It looks like 'The Glass Forest' out there in that 'Threshold' show that got cancelled, doesn't it?"

Couldn't do much of anything. Well, I could have gone Christmas shopping (which is what I'd planned to be doing yesterday, because the roads were very passable) But, alas, I'm sort of anal about being out in public without the benefit of a hot shower. Call me a clean-freak like that. Hmph

So, with nothing else to do, at least the muses hadn't frozen me out. I spent all damn afternoon wrapped up in a blanket by the fireplace, channeling my inner pioneer spirit, and writing my bitty heart out. An entire chapter in a few short hours of waning precious daylight. Haha. It was a relieving consolation that I was able to accomplish something in such a helpless situation. Had a really good dinner out (because, hello, couldn't cook anything here, argh) and then went over to roast marshmallows with the niece (who did have power last night).

All is well again now, and I'm finally warming up some. I'm sparkly clean again too (in case you were wondering, haha). I just need to get caught up again on my lovely emails and LJ responses (which I was so excited to log on and find this morning).

Happy Friday and Merry Holiday weekend to all! :)

I just needed to squee, see. I heartheartheart my newest sparkly Christmas icon! Isn't it just pretty-dance-boys-adorable? Hee! Many thanks to michelle62998 over at sparkle_cafe for it. Maybe it will help sprinkle a bit of holiday cheer to those on my FL who aren't tingling with as much Teasings Greetings as others. Haha

What a busy weekend it was for me. Saturday was spent with the niece. Just the two of us. Because it had been a while since I'd taken her out and done that. We had fun, minus the fact that Yours, Mine & Ours is a complete yawner, even by the 7-year-old's sense of humor standards. The kid cracks me up. The woman in the flick (Renee Russo) lived in the pinkest brick house I've ever seen in the natural world. And my niece whispers to me, "I bet JC would love living there. Don't you think?" hehehe. Fast learner, that one.

My Christmas cards are finished! Woo hoo! And the list was even longer this year than last. Well, it was shorter at first, as I had to erase forever 1-&-a-half (hahahaha) folks who I'm no longer in contact with. But then I had so many other genuinely wonderfuler people to add and make it longer, and I'm so thankful for that. 2005 was a great year for making friends. :)

Ah, The Manuscript is finished too! Yippy! Load off my back. Totally. That was my Sunday afternoon. (Justin case you're interested, the magical talking dog dies while bravely saving his boy prince and the rest of the known world from fire-belching dragons, but, like in any good fairytale, and with the help of the Unicorn and the Phoenix, he's brought back to life, much to the happiness of all. The End.) And then I went to the Christmas Cantata at church that evening. With the niece again. And she was just as squirmy and semi-entertained as she'd been on Saturday. So yeah. I'm kind of worn out today. Ha.

I hope everyone is not too sniffly and enjoying the season and feeling the love as much as possible. I have a love story to finish writing, so I think I'll get back to that now. :)

OMG. 34 degrees is cold!!! Yuck! And it's making whatever that is coming out of the sky out there slushy! Ick. Yes, I'm staying in. For shurr.

And. JC was in town last night. Only a short drive away from where I sat. Hmm. I am dumb for not venturing down there. Just to get a quick peak at sparkliness in the flesh. Ha.

Well, for the main point of this post, I have three chapters of TDWD ready to share. Again, I apologize for not getting it all finished sooner. Lots to do, just like everyone else. And I appreciate your patience. I also appreciate the hounding and begging too. Hehe. It motivates me. Makes me feel loved. :) Thank you.

I hope you like these. And be assured that the centering focus is definitely about to turn back to shine soley on the SOINLOVE boys. I promise. Actually, I've already finished writing a lot of it. So it'll be along soon. :)


This Dance We Do

Chapter 82

Chapter 83

Chapter 84

...because I haven't done so in a while.

'Tis the season for having tons to do and only thimbles-ful of time to do it in. But I'm trying. Aren't we all?

A week or so ago, I took on a freelance assignment of editing a (very long) manuscript for a woman who's written a children's fairytale she wants to get published. It's taking up lots of my spare time, but hey, the extra cash flow will come in tres handy at this point in the year, if you know what I mean. Ha. And her story will look much more publishable after I'm done with it. So yeah.

Ah, and I've been shopping too. Whee! Online mostly, since I loathe shopping in general and malls in particular. And what fun it is to see the UPS/FedX person pull up, like, every day! Whee!

Yes, I got sick too. Like the rest of the known world. Only for a few days, though, and not that miserably at all. It's begoned itself from me now, thank you very muches.

And, yes, I know I'm slacking on an update of TDWD. Bad me. But -- unbelievably what with all else that is going on -- I've managed to get lots&lots of it written and even typed up. So I'll do my best to put a slow-down on the rolling momentum I've had lately with getting it created and actually post some of what is finished. Perhaps I'll do that this week. 'Kay?

Now it's back to addressing holiday cards, wrapping gifts from Amazon.com, and (proof)reading about supernatural magic hero dogs who protect princes and talk. Etc., etc., etc.

I hope everyone's holiday season is going well and filled with good cheer rather than goopy snot! lol :)

It's not much. But it's something. Thank all celestial beings everywhere for that. Whee.

Hope you like. And if all works out as planned, more soon (sooner than you received this one). :)


This Dance We Do

Chapter 81

I've another sword of mass destruction for you, you slimy writer's slump! May the positive power of a chilly, sunny TGIF banish you from my imprisoned and strugglingtobefree mind, you ass!

So I bought myself a new pen the other day. A micro-fine roller ball black beauty. Works like a charm too. Even helped me to finally finish this chapter I've been working on for, what, decades. Ha. It's been a much-needed weapon against the evildreaded block/slump, which I hate and don't suffer from often. And I've had to fight this one off singlehandedly, seeings how my muses have up and totally abandoned me lately. Chucked a bunch of inspiration my way and then hit the road, jack. Holiday-taking bitches.

Well, to hell with them. I have survived. *snerks*

I may post this one complete chapter later today -- yeah, I'm really considering it -- just for some motivation to get the others rolling/finished. Just to give you something to remind you this series is still around. Sound reasonable? Would that be cool? At least I've managed to get something out. Whew.

Side note: I'm hooked on The Logo Channel and not sure if I'm even supposed to feel uncool and ashamed of admitting that. Hmm. But hey. Latter Days made me weep. I do adore Wes Ramsey. *wants to hug him and all his prettiness*

Have a great pre-Turkey-Day weekend, folks. I shall spend most of mine wielding that shiny new micro-fine blade in the murky underworld of Halted Creativity. *crosses fingers and toes*

Mahvahlussly happy birthday wishes to 1107red!!!!! I'm so glad I've gotten to know you much better over the past year or so. You're a kick-ass person, and I hope your special day (with the wunnerfull spouse in tow) is as rocking and rolling as you deserve, lady. Sweet birthday hugs all around! *muah*

Cheery, sunny Monday to the rest of you/us. Ha. My weekend was pretty much unproductive but not unpleasant. Fall Festival/Carnival with the nieces and family on Saturday. And that went as, um, well, as those things go. I guess. They actually had a chicken included in the petting zoo. WTF? Yeah, no. I stayed far away. (Hello? Don't watch the news much, folks?)

Didn't get much writing done, eh. My brain (the creative square inch or so anyway) is taking itself a little autumnal siesta or something. I just have some RL issues I need to get straightened out so that I can get back to focusing on the Bassenbaum Wedding et al. I did, however, get a simple little graphic made for "Unshakable", and I slapped it up on my Web site, if you're interested in taking a peek. Beth will be happy to see the lack of an eye-paining black background. ;)

That's about it, I guess. I need to get off my arse and download the Edison thingy that's going around. Just because, well, I love my JT. Duh. Hehe

Well, Halloween is a blast when you have a 7-year-old sparkly "Devil Diva" dragging your ass all over the neighborhood. In the dark. With lots of other screeching, sugar-hyped kids. Ha. And I'm still eating too much candy myself. Yeah, thank heavens for little girl nieces. Otherwise, I might just do boring-as-hell ol' adult stuff all the damn time. Ha.

I'm still catching up in LJ Land and emails. But I did finally get this sucker tweaked from here to Kingdom Come today. Thought I'd share it. I got the urge to do it after those lovely, lovely pics from Justin being honored by the Memphis Recording Academy. And JC being there with/for him. Of course. :)

It's not a short story, exactly. More like a ficlet, I guess. A series of fictional scenarios surrounding the events we already know happened. Fragmented and non-linear, so just be warned. Ah, you're smart. You can handle it. Hehe.

Enjoy. :)

Now I must go back to delayed correspondences in my Inbox......


UNSHAKABLE

Wo-ho. Another update. After a fabulous, fandom-stirring-and-uplifting appearance together by the boys we were so lucky to get this week. Yay!

How proud I was of Justin for his honor. How proud I was of JC for showing up to support his friend, like he always seems to do. How happy and beyond thrilled all of it made me. And I think it had the same effect on lots of us out here. It was almost like you could feel the earth move that day. Hehe.

Well, I've written something about it, but it's nowhere near ready to share with anyone else. I'm working on it. So maybe I'll feel more comfortable with the piece this weekend. Maybe.

Meanwhile, here are two more chapters of The Series. I really do appreciate all the comments and feedback people leave in LJ land and send me privately. It's nectar for the writer's soul to hear from the readers. And I am grateful. Very much so. Just wanted to say that again. :)

Enjoy. :)


This Dance We Do

Chapter 79

Chapter 80