kristen999

Fic Rec!

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:20:15 GMT

Title: “Star Drive”
Author: Santa
Rating: PG-13
Length: 9,700 words
Summary: Ten thousand years ago, a cabal of militant anti-Ascensionists had a plan to force the Ancients to stand and fight the Wraith. Now all they need is John Sheppard to set it into motion.
Prompt: Cal wanted action and adventure, alien civilizations and/or ancient gizmos discovered in Atlantis. Basically, she wanted an SGA episode. Yes, me too.

Why Rec’ed A fun action adventure fic with a wonderfully, mischievous Sheppard voice. John’s manic with glee upon the discovery of an Ancient Fighter craft and trouble ensues. I love stories that feature Pilot!John and this is a fun-thrill ride with a cool plot and a feel of an actual episode.

Enjoy!

Let's see hubby's sick and still in bed sleeping and we're not supposed to leave to go to a friend's house for dinner for a few more hours...read or beta, read or beta? I choose read! It's X-mas :D

Happy Holidays!!

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:02:11 GMT

Happy Holidays to My F-List!!

I have to work Christmas Eve, but have the next three days off!!Can not wait!! Going to relax, read, and write!

Hope everyone has a safe and wonderful time with family and friends! I will continue the 12 Days of SGA love after the weekend!

HUGS

Eighth Day of SGA Picture Love

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:31:07 GMT

On the eighth day of SGA Love, we have-

Down and Out

Bruised and Broken Boned

Hurt and Comfort

Random Update

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 01:58:05 GMT

The thing plaguing me about my secret Santa is my obsession with avoiding Deux Ex Machina scenarios. While the medium is sc-fi, where you can make up the rules, fast and easy answers annoy me and that has been my stumbling block.

I think I’ve managed to make things believable within the parameters set with realistic gray areas, ones that won’t make the reader pause or chuckle with a “Of course XYZ just appeared/or happened”.

It IS an action story, but I still strive for as much realism as possible. But good news, I’m happy with what I have now, hitting 14k tonight.

I’m also pleased as punch at the reception to the 12 Days of SGA picture love. It is almost a symbiotic relationship, I love the reactions and people seem to be digging the spams. Which is good. They take over an hour to put together, but they are awesome reminders about the things I loved about the show. Must decide on Tuesday's theme, been trying to fit in everyone's requests.

Oh and these Dr. Who advertisements for the movies are very intriguing. We taped the marathons over the weekend for later on. I’ve had my good and bad reactions to the series, but the specials seem very cool.

Going to relax and re-watch Top Gear’s Polar Special for the third time :D

Sixth and Seventh Day of SGA Picture Love

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 19:58:36 GMT

On the sixth and seventh day of SGA picture love, we have

Behind the Scenes

It really impresses and fills me with glee how much the cast was genuinely enthused about being on set and working together. These just make me smile uncontrollably.

Note: I've been asked this a few times via PM. Feel free to snatch to make icons, etc, all I did was collect and re-size the images. If you do make icon et el, could you please post a link to them when you do so I can see the pretty? Thanks!

“Day Eight”

“Day Eight”

Fifth Day of SGA Picture Love

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:15:19 GMT

On the fifth day of SGA picture love, we have

Teyla Emmagan

Teyla kicking ass.

Teyla being hot and beautiful.

Teyal with John, Ronon, and Rodney

You get the idea

“Day Six and Seven”

“Day Six and Seven”

ugh..let me whine for a few seconds

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:45:16 GMT

Can I have my week back please? How is it Thursday already?

Work's been a bear, prepping for the Holiday Open House and our first patronage dividend program. Let's not forget the 20, freaking 20 sales work sheets I had to prep this week.

Oh, and there's the Secret Santa where I have 12k words, but still have like 8k more to go. Add juggling trying to play with com layouts on dial-up (leaving that to the experts) and I forgot today's SGA picture lovefest..well I didn't forget, I ran out of time to grab them and re-size the images to fit.

Oh, and my day off got moved to Monday for a last minute inventory thing. And I still have to mail my mom’s gift out tomorrow.

At 9 I'm going to blank out in front of my TV and watch CSI...yes, I got a bit back into it after last week's and a marathon of 2009 eppys I saw over the weekend.

Hopefully tomorrow will be more productive...let me see if I can squeeze in this transition scene.

Fourth Day of SGA Picture Love

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:33:57 GMT

On the fourth day of SGA picture love, we have

Ronon Dex

John Sheppard

Ronon and John

John and Ronon with Guns.

You get the idea

“Day Five”

“Day Five”

Third Day of SGA Picture Love

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:04:43 GMT

On the third day of SGA picture love, we have touching, hugs, acts/expressions of concern, love and affection.

“Day Four”

“Day Four”

Fic rec!

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:22:21 GMT

Title: “Devil and the Deep Blue Sea”
Author: Santa
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 33,000
Warning: Contains some relatively mild horror-movie-esque imagery and creepiness
Spoilers: Set post-Enemy at the Gate, potential spoilers for all aired episodes.
Summary: John is dealing with his teammates' love lives just like any other emotional issue: by ignoring the situation and hoping it goes away. But when a mission gone wrong traps John, Rodney and Jennifer a thousand feet beneath New Lantea's ocean -- injured and out of touch with Atlantis, with the clock running down and a mysterious enemy in pursuit -- they're either going to have to work out their differences ... or die trying.

This part of the SGA Secret Santa, so the author will be not be revealed unil later.

Why rec’ed:

This is a very rare gem of a fic, a realistic and spot on exploration on the confusion and miscommunication that can spiral out of control when members of a team develop relationships outside the ‘unit’. This is such a mature and thoughtful look at John and Rodney post EATG. I think many people will be scared off at the ‘het McKay/Keller’ label and I want people to read this! I think the label is mis-leading, as the focus is all about John and Rodney and their bumbling inability to talk with each other.

The characterizations are spot on, and I love the Jennifer voice in this, one the best I’ve seen. Most of all, this is an exciting action/adventure story with lots of h/c, drama, and it is just plain creepy and fun! I can not stress enough to give this story the chance it deserves. You will not regret it. I saw it late last night, read half of it, then finished it this morning.

First and Second Day Of SGA Picture Love

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:31:21 GMT

I’m kicking off the twelve days of SGA Picture Love a day earlier because I’ll be running around this weekend.

Beware very image heavy!

On the first and second day of SGA picture love, we have lots and lots of team!! Team Love and Team Fun!

And a lot of Team standing around :-P

“Day Three”

Let’s start off with introductions to our beautiful team!

Go Team!

“Day Three”

Randomness

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Sunlight on seven inches of snow is very, very bright. Oh and beware all the black ice when walking home, I have found taking the street vs. the side walk to be the safest path.

Collecting pictures for the 12 Days of SGA has taken over my lunch breaks, but it has been a lot of fun. I've collected a ton I haven't used before which was the goal! Is it bad that I have over 100 thus far and I doubt I'll use a fraction of them? :-P

I've spent the last two nights changing my Secret Santa from present tense to third person. I love present tense for short intense, action stories. Since I hit 8,300 words and was not even half-way done, present tense wasn't working for me and started to drive me mad!

But the action and tension is still accounted for!!

Two hours before I can go home!

12 Days of SGA Pictures

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:51:32 GMT

I make no promises, but I thought it would be fun to do twelve days of SGA love in pictures for the holidays. There might be twelve posts of pics, or perhaps one post will cover more than one day.

I'm open to 'themes' of each post.

Team
Action
Guns
Sunglasses...

You get the idea. Give me characters, groups of characters, just a plain old "I want all them all smiling" or "Ronon and his gun", "Teyla kicking butt", or "John and flying."

I'm going to screen the replies just so it'll be a surprise!

Snowflakes and other things

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:30:41 GMT

Wanted to thank everyone for the wonderful gifts and snowflakes! HUGS!

I might be scarce for a bit. I hit 7k on my Secret Santa fic, but looking at my notes, I'm not even half-way done. More like 1/4. Between that, a holiday wish-list fic, and beta duties...well, my nights might be full for a while.

Hope everyone is doing well!!

Joe in a new Movie

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:55:50 GMT

Thanks to texfor delivering the news. According to “Jace Hall's twitter” Joe is filming a modern western where he plays a Sherrif.

Santa has come early! Joe in a modern western??? How awesome is that? Oh the fun!

Thank goodness to Jace Hall for being Joe's PR agent :-P

Pimping

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 01:14:43 GMT

I could not resist. I should be writing Secret Santa, but had to particpate. Read, write, ask, comment.

Have fun!

HOLIDAY HURT/COMFORT COMMENT FIC EXCHANGE at sgahcchallenges

Post a prompt | See the prompts | Read stories

The Fanfic Love Meme

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:59:57 GMT

This looked like fun! Saw it in a few places.

THE FANFICTION LOVE MEME

Drop me a link here if you put your name in!

Amazon Sale

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:29:37 GMT

Thanks to katikat for the heads up on this.

Amazon US is having a huge sale - yeah, I know, Xmas season, duh ;P - but there are some DVDs that I think my flist might be interested in, like for example:

Farscape: The Complete Series for $57.99 only - 61% off!

The X-Files for $12.49 a season - 69% off!

Supernatural S4 for $14.99 - 75% off! Other seasons for $17.99 - 70% off!

"Life's Equations" Artwork and DVD Commentary

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:41:16 GMT

x_erikah_x created a beautiful cover for “Life’s Equations” for my holiday wish-list and it is simply amazing. Please go over there and check-it out and see what an awesome job she did!

------> “Cover Art”

tridgetrequested a DVD commentary on a passage a couple of weeks ago and I finally able to sit down and type one out.

I use third person for multi-chapter stories, but for one-shots with an emphasis on emotion, action, or internal thoughts. I shift to present tense. The beauty of present tense is its ability to cut down on needless linking verbs and puts the reader in the middle of what is going on. For this particular story, I focused on the concise language and rhythm, striving for a poetic feel. Flow was vital for this story. As I traced John’s life, I wanted each segment to build upon one another, like a math problem. John learned something in each section which he applied later in life. After each segment I wanted the emotion and intensity level to build up to a climax before being tied together at the end.

Waking up trussed up to a chair with a splitting headache is nothing new. Leather bindings dig into raw wrists and his numb legs are strapped to the wooden legs by his ankles. Panic bubbles up from his gut, because this is eerily similar to a certain Genii torture chamber. His racing heart increases the blood flow, clearing the layer of thick cotton over his brain--and it hits him. John knows the reason why the room is spinning and the overhead lightning burns holes through his eyes.

“You ready, Colonel?”

John flinches as a hand grips his shoulder from behind and the cold metal tip of an instrument against his left temple sends icy knives into his brain.

“Tell me the gate codes.”

John’s skin sizzles with electricity and the interrogator’s words rip into his head like thousands of voices of Wraith Queens.

“Tell. Me. The. Codes.”

Each syllable is an amped up tuning fork vibrating and tearing down his mental defenses, yanking answers out of their heavily guarded barriers.

To cut down on exposition, I don’t explain what is going on, but allowed John’s confusion to draw the reader into his plight. The trick was using the right sensory imagery to clue the reader in that the interrogator is mentally linked inside John’s head. Anything John thinks about is transmitted to the bad-guy.

John retaliates with roadblocks. Diagrams of roller coasters, windmills, and football plays. Words don’t work, neither do colors or memories, but that doesn’t stop his mind from filling with harmless information.

The only way John can fight this mental intrusion is to think of ‘harmless’ data. Memories don’t work, neither does ‘picturing’ things like the ocean. However, he can’t think about complex ideas like the schematic of a jet or he might give away vital Intel to the enemy.

“Don‘t fight it.”

The device retracts data, ripping apart neurons and transmitting information back into his interrogator’s mind. John gleans snapshots of tyranny and violence, of burning towns, and plundered worlds from the mutual connection.

“Show me how you dial the gate address.”

The first two codes are extracted in seconds; John’s not sure if he’s screaming out loud, but he squeezes his eyes close, releasing a flood of overwhelming data.

The bad guy has caught on to John’s tactics and tries to have John imagine the gate address and the harder John fights, the more painful the process becomes.

Abstract facts and ideas act as speed bumps against the invasion of his mind and John focuses on natural integers. He delves into properties of number theory and unsolved problems of twin prime conjectures and Fermat’s last theorem.

One of my biggest research source was the NASA website and its teaching tools on aviation. Once I understood the principles behind the science of flying, I hunted down websites dedicated to educating kids about flight and they used kites and paper airplanes as their examples. Doing the research helped guide the timeline I used in creating all of John‘s ‘life lessons‘.

“This won‘t slow me down. I’ll find what I’ll need.”

But the voice falters, caught up in the concept of infinity and John pushes onward. To space and geometry. Topology and fractals. McKay’s image pops into his head, challenging John’s fray into chaos theory. It’s a crack in the door and the interrogator shoves his foot in and tries to kick it open.

Rodney isn’t here; he’s on Atlantis, and images of the sea and city are seized upon.

“That’s it. Don’t you want to go home? Tell me the activation sequence.”

John resists the drilling and clawing and bellowing commands. His skull feels like it’s been cracked open, the steel instrument burrowing through bone and gray matter.

“No!” he screams, thinking of differential equations.

The burning slows, his host confused and bewildered by vector calculus, expanding into discrete mathematics.

And by information theory of computers and data.

Understanding math is like learning a new language. You need a sound understanding of the foundations in order to solve the harder stuff. This particular vignette follows the history of math, from ancient premises all the way to modern concepts. There’s actually a kind of timeline of math theory imbedded in this interrogation. I figured an alien might be overwhelmed by such a rush of pure data. Even if John doesn’t understand the stuff he’s read or Rodney’s talked about, I’m sure he’d transmit it.

John unloads the hard drive of his mind, of things he doesn’t ponder or care about but that sit inside his brain to be accessed in times of crisis.

This is my favorite line and it is the crux of the whole thing. This wasn’t a John is a hidden math genius story. Flying was both an escape and fascination of his and once he realized that is what he wanted to do, math and physics became a tool to achieve his goal. I think that's why people are surprised when he shows how intelligent he is, it only comes out in this need-to situations. John comes up with too many crazy theories and plans not to have an understanding of mathematics/science, but he needs Rodney and the others to make them practical.

He doesn’t have a PhD, I think he could if he wanted, but why? John’s a practical man and his career depends more on instinct and the ability to adapt to changing situations. He’s curious, has a geeky side, so I think he stores things he reads or hears, not really thinking about them and they stay locked away in files to be retrieved later when a crisis requires them.

Things like random trivia of compression and entropy, and one of the Millennium Problems.

The interrogator growls and curses, then screams.

John’s mind reels from thunderous aftershocks and the collective desires and plans of a ruthless soul. Then his body slumps over, shaking and sweating when the mental link is suddenly severed.

“Sheppard?”

He leans into the hands holding him up, while two other sets cut away his bonds. John grips Ronon’s leather coat, smells the coffee Rodney drank earlier.

“John, are you alright? We came as quickly as we could,” Teyla soothes.

“I know you did,” he whispers back, shivering in relief at holding out long enough for his team to find him.

On a side note. I lost part of this story during a flash drive incident. This was a painfully slow fic to write so I almost gave up on it since I lost the outline as well. I waited a week and re-wrote the missing section and finished it. Once it was posted I realized I forgot a scene. I had eight sections focused on John’s early life and there was supposed to be four Atlantis sections to balance it out instead of three.
The first Atlantis scene was supposed to take place early season one with John playing on the computer with Radek, Grodin and an OC arguing over something. I had John getting up, sick of the geeks fighting, and fix an equation on the whiteboard, our trio of geeks haven forgotten John was even in the room before he walks out.

Alas, I forgot all about it when I came back to re-write the story.

Holiday Wish List

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:45:37 GMT

Step One:
• Make a post (public, friendslocked, filtered...whatever you're comfortable with) to your LJ. The post should contain your list of 10 unlimited holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fandom-related ("I'd love a Snape/Hermione icon that's just for me") to medium ("I wish for _____ on DVD") to really big ("All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.") The important thing is to make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.

• If you wish for real life things (not fics or icons), make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it's your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.

• Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your LJ, so that the holiday joy will spread.

Step Two:
• Surf around your friendslist (or friendsfriends, or just random journals) to see who has posted their list. And now here's the important part:

• If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true. Sometimes someone's trash is another's treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don't want or a gift certificate you won't use--or even know where you could get someone's dream purebred Basset Hound for free--do it.

• You needn't spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out; it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday elf--to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not--it's your call.

• There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just...wish, and it might come true. Give and you might receive. And you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.

(No particular order)

I’m putting all fandom related things since that is that is my escape from the real world.

1. NCIS icon(s) featuring the team.

2. Joe Flanigan icon(s) (not of Sheppard)

3. Sheppard icon(s) featuring math, science, or thinking themes.

4. John and Ronon icons

5. SGA Team icons

6. NCIS L.A fanfic set after “Legend”. h/c-recovery- featuring Sam & G. You’d think this would be some out there, but I’ve not seen any.

7. NCIS fanfic featuring a hurt Tony (doesn’t have to be major) with either McGee, Abby, or Ducky in heroic or protective mode.

8. SGA fic. I have this weird desire for stalker or hero-worship gone bad that involves Sheppard.

9. SGA fic. Sheppard h/c featuring team. Encounter with a Wraith queen.

10. Cover-art for any of my SGA stories. My masterlist is “Here”

Happy Thanksgiving

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:52:45 GMT

Yesterday was about reflection of the past, today should be a celebration of family and friends. Wherever you are, however you observe, I wish everyone on my F-List a Happy Thanksgiving. Be safe and be happy!

Thanksgiving -Another View

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:47:07 GMT

I hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday. Sit back, relax, be with family and friends. I enjoy Thanksgiving for its modern tones and sentiments, to be thankful for your health, family, and what you have. This is the day to reflect that your life might not be that bad :D Keep in mind the millions in war-torn nations or those with no food at all.

Like many holidays, myth and historical accounts often get mixed and blown-out of proportion for commercialism. Below is an article on "The Real Thanksgiving". All I am offering is another perspective of the holiday and to keep in mind the sacrifices made by all.

AUTHOR: East Texas Review Newspaper

As history teaches us, the greatest conflicts and the bloodiest wars throughout time have been waged because of belief systems and boundaries. We can trace this from the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition through Hitler to the "ethnic cleansing" now going on around the world. This mentality does not tolerate differing political, social and religious beliefs, and it does not hesitate to sieze another's land and property if it suits a purpose.

It was the custom in European countries to mark the boundaries of land with fences ranging from palisades to low rock walls. Once word spread throughout Europe and Spain about this wonderful land called The Americas, which was wild, untamed and unclaimed, this new territory became a safe haven for outlaws, prisoners, and the radical element of politics, social structure and religious practices - the violent and the non-conformists.

Even though the first explorers and early settlers had been warned about the heathen savages found in the "New World", they found the First Peoples of this land curious about these strange people, and more than willing to teach them how to survive and live well in their new surroundings. The flow of people into this country was slow in the beginning and, even though there was the occasional hothead among the newcomers, life was generally a peaceful co-existence for almost 150 years.

However, as the trickle of settlers turned into a steady river, the atmosphere began to change. In 1614, a band of English explorers had landed in the vicinity of Massachusetts Bay. When they returned home, they took with them Native slaves they had captured, and left smallpox behind. By the time the Puritan pilgrims sailed the Mayflower into southern Massachusetts Bay, entire nations of New England Natives were already extinct, having been totally exterminated by smallpox.

The Puritans were religious people being driven into exile out of England. Since their story is well known, I will not repeat it here. They settled and built a colony which they called the "Plymouth Plantation", near the ruins of a former Native village of the Pawtuxet Nation. Only one Pawtuxet had survived, a man named Squanto, who had spent time as a slave to the English. Since he understood the language and customs of the Puritans, he taught them to use the corn growing wild from the abandoned fields of the village, taught them to fish, and about the foods, herbs and fruits of this land. Squanto also negotiated a peace treaty between the Puritans and the Wampanoag Nation, a very large Native nation which totally surrounded the new Plymouth Plantation. Because of Squanto's efforts, the Puritans enjoyed almost 15 years of peaceful harmony with the surrounding Natives, and they prospered.

At the end of their first year, the Puritans held a great feast following the harvest of food from their new farming efforts. The feast honored Squanto and their friends, the Wampanoags. The feast was followed by 3 days of "thanksgiving" celebrating their good fortune. This feast produced the image of the first Thanksgiving that we all grew up with as children. However, things were doomed to change.

Until approximately 1629, there were only about 300 Puritans living in widely scattered settlements around New England. As word leaked back to England about their peaceful and prosperous life, more Puritans arrived by the boatloads. As the numbers of Puritans grew, the question of ownership of the land became a major issue. The Puritans came from the belief of individual needs and prosperity, and had no concept of tribal living or group sharing. It was clear that these heathen savages had no claim on the land because it had never been subdued, cultivated and farmed in the European manner, and there were no fences or other boundaries marked. The land was clearly "public domain", and there for the taking. This attitude met with great resistance from the original Puritans who held their Native benefactors in high regard. These first Puritan settlers were summarily excommunicated and expelled from the church.

With Bible passages in their hands to justify their every move, the Puritans began their march inland from the seaside communities. Joined by British settlers, they seized land, took the strong and young Natives as slaves to work the land, and killed the rest. When they reached the Connecticut Valley around 1633, they met a different type of force. The Pequot Nation, very large and very powerful, had never entered into the peace treaty negotiated by Squanto as had other New England Native nations. When 2 slave raiders were killed by resisting Natives, the Puritans demanded that the killers be turned over. The Pequot refused. What followed was the Pequot War, the bloodiest of the Native wars in the northeast.

An army of over 200 settlers was formed, joined by over 1,000 Narragansett warriors. Because of the lack of fighting experience, and the vast numbers of the fierce Pequot warriors, Commander John Mason elected not to stage an open battle. Instead, the Pequot were attacked, one village at a time, in the hours before dawn. Each village was set on fire with its sleeping Natives burned alive. Women and children over 14 were captured to be sold as slaves; other survivors were massacred. The Natives were sold into slavery in The West Indies, the Azures, Spain, Algiers and England; everywhere the Puritan merchants traded. The slave trade was so lucrative that boatloads of 500 at a time left the harbors of New England.

In 1641, the Dutch governor of Manhattan offered the first scalp bounty; a common practice in many European countries. This was broadened by the Puritans to include a bounty for Natives fit to be sold for slavery. The Dutch and Puritans joined forces to exterminate all Natives from New England, and village after village fell. Following an especially successful raid against the Pequot in what is now Stanford, Connecticut, the churches of Manhattan announced a day of "thanksgiving" to celebrate victory over the savages. This was the 2nd Thanksgiving. During the feasting, the hacked off heads of Natives were kicked through the streets of Manhattan like soccer balls.

The killing took on a frenzy, with days of thanksgiving being held after each successful massacre. Even the friendly Wampanoag did not escape. Their chief was beheaded, and his head placed on a pole in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where it remained for 24 years. Each town held thanksgiving days to celebrate their own victories over the Natives until it became clear that there needed to be an order to these special occasions. It was George Washington who finally brought a system and a schedule to thanksgiving when he declared one day to be celebrated across the nation as Thanksgiving Day.

It was Abraham Lincoln who decreed Thanksgiving Day to be a legal national holiday during the Civil War, on the same day and at the same time he was ordering troops to march against the Sioux in Minnesota.

In our society, it is not uncommon for our modern celebrations to have arisen from evil beginnings. Over the centuries, Thanksgiving has become a special day to join with loved ones in an offering of thanks for our blessings. Some give their time to help with the homeless and hungry. It is now a day of giving, and of honor, and of true thanksgiving.

In your Thanksgivings to come, I would ask that you offer a silent prayer for the spirits of those who were sacrificed so long ago. You and I did not commit these atrocities, and we are certainly not responsible for the behavior of our ancestors be they red, white, black or yellow.

However, we are charged with the responsibility of learning our true history, and of having the courage to behave with honor and dignity toward our fellow man. If the lessons of history are not learned, they will repeat themselves.

-----
Added note by me-

I’m amazed by the sacrifices that the Pilgrims endured on their journey and pursuit to practice their religion in peace. Just as those who get annoyed at the commercialism that tends to over shine the deeply religious meaning behind Christmas and Easter. I get sick of seeing all the decorations of the Pilgrims and Native Americans all over the place without any thought to what actually happened and the aftermath of the colonialists’ arrival to the new world. As the last paragraph in the article says, none of us committed the wrongs of our ancestors; I just hope people try to keep in mind the history behind the holiday.

Sheppard

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:36:51 GMT

Thanks to a little bird that e-mailed this to me from Mallozzi's blog taken over the summer since I don't go there.

This picture has ended me. High rez and gorgeous.

I think this is a wonderful image and if anyone has photoshop skills, the light on Joe's face might need tweaking or the color saturation? Anyhow, I adore this image, I just want a flawless one!

Supernatural

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:50:25 GMT

A short reaction to last night's episode of "Supernatural" and a question that has been bugging me.

I enjoyed last night’s episode with a few caveats. I liked Jo and Ellen and I thought it a bit cheap to bring them back for a couple of episodes after two seasons only to kill them off so soon. Don’t get me wrong, their death scene was poignant and heroic, but it seemed such a loss. I wonder now if their detractors realize now that it is too late, how cool their characters could have been if given the chance. Brilliant scene though, and it made me really sad to see them die for boiled down to a huge Hail Mary.

My question is this. Why did they think the colt could kill the devil? Sure it has killed many supernatural things, specifically demons and other things from hell. Problem is that Lucifer is an angel, the colt doesn’t kill angels. The only thing that can kill an angle is another angel. Cass’s partner last year, Uriel said as much last season.

I mean that’s the whole point of Michael needing Dean as a vessel, so that a bad ass archangel can take on Lucifer. It seemed odd to me that seasoned hunters would have thought the colt would do anything.

The show is really great about continuity and this was a big bump in the road to me.

Thanksgiving is that soon? Really?

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:29:35 GMT

Wow. So, um yeah. Go away for six or seven days right before Thanksgiving and I’m asking for trouble. I’m so swamped at work!! I guess when I’m the only one who knows how to run the database of a Natural and Organic Foods Co-op. I’m not allowed to leave! Let’s not mention the New York Bottle Water deposit fiasco!

I have a ton of e-mail to respond to, but I’ll wait until I have enough brain power to articulate real thought.

I started going through the artwork for SGABigBang, but only scratched the surface of admiring and commenting on the pieces. I started reading my first fic. The plan is to digest one or two a week and get through my list by the holidays: D

On the writing front, I haven’t started my Secret Santa yet, but will over the weekend. I have a lot fleshed out in my head and an outline minus the middle .

I still have a few DVD commentaries to do, however that whole lacking energy thing is forcing those back till later.

Enough of the long list of things to accomplish! I come bearing gifts because I love my f-list.

Another picspam. High res as usual. Mainly Sheppard with a few John and Ronon.

Enjoy!

Bonus out take with amazing white shirt.