Tea and Dragons

Apparently my subconscious has a thing not only for parking garages and elevators but for interconnections.  I used to have a familiar street in my dreams, of shops all linked together; it was something akin to the mall I dream about from time to time, in that I know where everything is even if I can't reach it. 

But I also have a basement that is a series of rooms in sequence, though they are not at all similar.  They often have books in them (big surprise, I know).  And they're a little like the long house I dream of from time to time, the one that is based very vaguely on the one my grandparents lived in when I was small. 

Such amazingly detailed landscapes in my head, and most of the detail goes unused.  It makes me want to take control and explore, and yet I never manage it.  

I lust after many things, most of them either beepy or made of paper, but at the moment what I'm dreaming of is...bookshelves. 

I don't need anything fancy, though there's a lot to be said for the built-in kind that won't tumble over during earthquakes.  Not that we get earthquakes here, at least strong enough to knock such things over, but if I had built-in bookshelves I would probably be living somewhere that did have them.  

No, I want more Ikea shelves.  Plain, heavy, put-'em-together-myself shelves.  And while they're cheap in the context of furniture, they're outside my usual budget, plus the challenge of getting them home from the store.  

I don't understand why people mock Ikea's stuff.  Sure, it's not generally elaborate or rich, but it's solid and serviceable.  it has clean lines and a sturdy practicality that works.  And while I can't stand most of their actual decorated patterns, I love the plain things, which do exactly what they're supposed to. 

Half my living room is done up in Ikea shelves plus a similar set from Target.  The other half is black plastic shelves on poles, easy to assemble but not exactly pretty.  The contrast is...notable. 

Must be a sign of being a grownup, caring what my living room looks like... 

Anyway.  Eventually I'll have more shelves.  In the meantime I can enjoy the ones I have so far. 

I'm still on sick leave, and out of sheer boredom I've been rereading some of my old posted fanfic.  I started posting on Fanfiction.net back when they didn't do italics, and I've never gone back and fixed the few that have asterisks instead.  :P 

They've changed their pattern again, too--double dashes have disappeared, which leaves my stuff looking like I formatted it wrong.  *sigh*  I'm not that careless.  I am, however, lazy enough to wait and hope that they switch back.  

But it's interesting to me to see how my style has changed over time, to see the things that make me wince or roll my eyes.  Not that I'm going to go back and edit anything--I reserve that for serious errors.  But it's been almost ten years...my style has changed.  And improved, if I do say so myself.  

Fandom changed, too, at least for CSI.  I started writing around the middle of the fourth season, I guess, back when the GSR was in its UST heyday.  My first few attempts at resolution are laughable now, given how much was revealed later, and my lack of deeper comprehension of the characters.  But readers were kind, and the welcome they gave me pulled me right into the fandom as a whole.  Come to that, I've only ever had one entry go unreviewed on FF.net, and given the fandom and the entry's structure, I'm not surprised.  *grin*  

I've slowed down in posting lately.  With the GSR resolution that impetus fell away; and while Iron Man offers a lot of scope and some wonderful readers, I just haven't been doing as much.  I wish it were because I was working on original stuff instead, but alas no.  Still, that may change as I heal up and boot the muse back online.  That's boot as in to the rear, not as in booting up...

It's been a great ten years--longer, really, counting the Prey fandom, also marvelous folks.  I'm deeply grateful.  

I watched Emma Thompson's Sense and Sensibility today; I've seen it before, but not recently.  I hadn't so much as forgotten that Hugh Laurie was in it as that he simply wasn't on my radar at the time. 

It's been so long since I read the book that I don't know how accurate the movie is, but aside from completely failing to show any attraction in Marianne to Colonel Brandon, it's fun.  Though I did keep thinking that Elinor and Colonel Brandon would be a better match. 

It's sobering to reflect, though, that for women of that class there was nothing but marriage.  It's their defining thought.  I don't know enough history to know if the same was true for the other classes, but it gives me a nasty feeling.  I know I'm very lucky to live in this time, and place, where for me marriage never became more than a "maybe someday, if the opportunity arises".  It was never a necessity.  

Of course, the idea of being married to someone I do not love, or to someone who does not love me, is one of my personal nightmares.  But that's rather beside the point. 

Well, I'm back.  That was fun.  *eyeroll*  Actually, I'm recovering a lot faster than I expected to, given that this time they sliced me open instead of just punching holes in me.  But if I never have a catheter again I will be quite content, thank you. 

( Cut for rambling... )