I’ve just heard this song on the radio. Brits will recognise it as the music from a VW Beetle Advert. The song is called Strange & Beautiful and is by Matt Hales (lead singer of the 45s) going under the name of Aqualung.
It fits so many H/D stories, IP and The Trilogy amongst them.
I have a nice new Nokia 8310! It is soooo tiny and lovely and needs a name. I will probably call it 'Harry'. Now all I need is to sort out how to use it and get software to link it to my Palm etc.
Now, I wonder if I can persuade my mum to use my old phon e?
Collected Thomas from the cattery this morning. He spent the entire journal home crying and trying to get out of his basket. It was rather like The Great Escape, with him trying to tunnel out through the bars.
I was feeling a little wibbly (oh, here you go Frances, using words like that!) early, both with my bad throat/cough and other things. Hopefully both items will sort themselves out soon. I am concerned about my part in the greater scheme of things. Nothing, I have been told, but when you are feeling a little under the weather everything seems bigger, worse or more involved than it really is. Oh well, that’s life I guess.
Things did cheer up when Zed contacted me. She is amazing and always makes me smile. The conversation ran from Draco/Harry sex to what they would ware, to life in general. It was very pleasant.
Gyms and things I had my assessment at the gym yesterday. It was a truly remarkable hour if one can link ‘gym’ with ‘remarkable’. The lady who talked to me knew exactly the level to pitch the conversation at and she did wonders for my self-confidence. Now I just need to put into practice what she preached. There is a local walking group in my area, which meets once a week. I had no idea it existed. I will be joining them next Monday.
It is 12 weeks til Chamber of Secrets comes out. I have a target to aim for.
Stories Tine has been slashing the lighthouse scene from Chapter 11 of Coming of Age I haven’t even written yet. Debbie wrote something for the scene as well. Now I am desperate to get that chapter finished. The subtext is there, but I’m not sure I can write it as het now.
I’ve stalled a bit with Resolution as I’ve been preoccupied with other things. I’ve got it plotted out now thanks to helpful people who sent me their Dark Magic ideas (and other helpful people who sent me their sex ideas *grins*). I think the chapter might have to be split -- nice fluffy first half ... darker but still fluffy second half. I have written some Tom Riddle stuff for it but I’m not convinced it is right.
The story I had for Harry’s birthday didn’t get finished. The original idea turned into something called Crop Circles, which I didn’t post here. It can be found here if you are interested. I am debating whether to make it NC-17 as a companion piece to Draco’s birthday fic (08042002), or whether to return to my original idea for 31072002! Of course, I could just combine them.
2am -- back from London after what seemed to be a ride on the slowest train on the whole British Rail network. It was actually only 15 minutes late -- it felt like it had taken hours.
I have to admit to not wanting to go to the see Neil Diamond when Saturday dawned. It was a hot humid day and the last thing I wanted was to have a hot train ride then scramble across a hot underground and then sit in a hot Earls Court. My friend Sue (who treated me to the concert for my birthday) admitted she didn’t really want to go either.
But it was worth all hot train, underground and concert hall.
I don’t know how old Neil is, but he must be getting on for 60 yet he gave us two hours and twenty minutes of non-stop singing. His voice is as good as ever and the whole thing was just excellent. I keep trying to decide which was my favourite songs, but each time I thought that was it, he would sing another and I would change my mind. There were a couple which almost had me in tears.
During the looonnnng train Sue and I worked out we’d seen Neil 6 times. Once at the London Palladium, once at the NEC Birmingham, twice at Earls Court and twice at Wembly Arena. Every time was great.
“You are the sun, I am the moon. You are the words, I am the tune. Play me...”
It was Ina’s birthday on 8th July and I never managed to write anything for her at the time.
So here is a little bit of Harry smut. This is part of a scene for Resolution Chapter 4 which I wrote and posted some time ago. However, it has now been rewritten to fit in with what has gone before.
About 2.30pm 19 years ago, I had a phone call from my friend Sue telling me she thought she'd seen my dad being taken away in an ambulance. I had to call mum to ask if he was home -- her response was that he wasn’t and that she was worried about him. My brother Raymond (who was off school that day) was out on his bike looking for him. Dad died on the way to the hospital of a heart attack (his 4th I think). He was called David John, but for some reason all his friends called him ‘Joe’.
So today I’ve been to the crematorium with mum and put some flowers in the Book of Remembrance Hall they have there. The grounds have been set out like woodland and we have a stroll in the sunshine. I can’t believe he has been dead for nearly half my life. I don’t think I miss him deeply (as I know I would miss mum), but I am sad at all the things he never got to see -- like his grandchildren and things like that. I wish I had known him better when he was alive. I can’t tell you much about his views on life or what he liked or disliked.
He was a Labour supporter all his life. I’m not sure he would approve of the way the party has changed.
Before his first heart attack we would always by him a cigar for Christmas, and I also associate that smell with him and with that time of year. He loved horse racing and would bet on the horses most days. Saturdays he would sit going over the racing form in the papers working out which horse to place his bets on. I seem to remember he was never very lucky and I think picking the horse with a pin or because of its name was almost as likely to produce a winner.
He loved football and was a Southampton supporter as far as I can remember. I know that the year they won the FA Cup he was recovering from one of his heart attacks and wasn’t supposed to get stressed. He spent most of the match in bed but had to come down for the final 15 minutes because he couldn’t stand it any more. He would regularly do the football pools, but again was never lucky.
He would watch the wrestling on a Saturday afternoon -- not WWF, but ‘proper’ wrestling that was televised back then.
And his garden -- he always had a great garden full of vegetables and flowers. There would always be sweet peas for mum and all summer we would have fresh veg with our meals.
He would be sitting watching the England vs Denmark match now if he was still alive, getting as excited as the rest of us. I hope he’s watching it wherever he is.
When I was pointed in the direction of Potterstinks by a post on David’s journal, I found some further links to other journals but didn’t realise there was a whole role-playing world out at Nocturne Alley !
Thanks very much Jen for pointing me in the right direction and telling me all about it.
On to other things. While reading the useless sports bit of Play Lego Wizard I came across the following photo of Lego!Harry and Lego!Draco practicing their curling skills. Apparently they are both hoping to get picked for the British Wizard Curling Team for the Winter Wizarding Olympics taking place in Vancouver later this year. The story is Britain beat the Canadians at the last Olympics and we expect to do the same the next time!
Just got to work from my visit to the doctor’s. First the nurse kindly told me I’d put on weight, but my blood pressure wasn’t quite as high as it had been. My blood sugar was 11.4, which is about normal for that time in the morning.
I then went to see the doctor. Certain people will be proud of me because I didn’t give him chance to say much but went straight into my prepared speech about how things haven’t improved and that I wanted to be referred to the diabetic clinic at the hospital. He looked at my readings and said he would write the letter.
After that I had to go back to the nurse to have loads of blood taken for tests (liver function, cholesterol, diabetes-related ones.) She actually managed to do it without leaving a bruise this time.
So now I will just have to wait and see what comes out of this. I’m feeling good about it in some ways, but in others it feels like I have failed. I do know I can’t go on like I am. My lack of concentration isn’t only affecting fun things like fandom and my writing. It is also having an effect on my work and that is the last thing I need right now.
They are playing “Three Lions” on the radio, which my fellow Brits will know is the Euro96 football song. It certainly takes me back. That was the year of my 40th birthday. It was the year I got to go on Concorde and see Neil Diamond. The song always makes me cry, however, as some of the words have a bit of a deeper meaning for me.
“Thirty years of hurt never stopped me dreaming.......”
Hmmm, I'm not sure any of my first lines count much.
Coming of Age: "I'm leaving." I like this one -- straight to the point.
Resolution: It had been snowing all night, but the rising sun had crested over the mountains to greet a glorious New Year's Eve day complete with a cloudless blue sky stretching from horizon to horizon.
Scene setting I guess, but not really the sort of line to grab readers. I wanted Draco to open the story doing something we hadn't seen before. Skiing seemed like a good idea.
08042002: The parchment crackled under his fingers as he turned it slowly over and over.
No real reason for this except in my mind I pictured the scene opening just showing Draco's long fingers holding this square of parchment.
Flowers of the Forest: Draco Malfoy leaned back against the smooth bark of the silver birch, the surface of the tree warm through his linen shirt.
Why do they all seem to open with Draco?
It has been a bit of a shock to read thro ugh my ficlets and find out that 90 per cent of them open with Mr Malfoy. It has also been interesting to read though some of them and see the genesis of my boys. I know Harry, where he is coming from and where he is going, but Draco has always been an en igma. Some of you know I have been struggling with him over the last few days, trying to figure out his motives and wondering if both boys are too soft. But having reread these ficlets, I can see I have Draco there all the time. I just needed to be nudged in the right direction.
It amazes me how much other people seem to understand my characters. I have spent some delightful hours reading posts about my Draco from several people, including Plu, Verdant, Chinawolf, Ina, Dancing Rain, Milena, Anatsuno, Rachel, Marysia, MilenaLupin . You are all wonderful wordsmiths and I bow down in front of you all.
Don't bother to click on the link below, I just needed somewhere to store these comments because I didn't want to lose them.
groggy
contemplative
ecstatic