(no subject)

[thisbluespirit]

LJ hasn't loaded for me all day, and now I'm fed up and very lonely and bored. With LJ, I have stuff to do and people to talk to. Without it? The internet is all but pointless, and I can't talk to anyone. I can amuse myself for about ten minutes or so and then I need to go away and sigh again and maybe dust something or lie down.

In the meantime, since LJ is apparently working for everybody else in the world except me, this should crosspost so you know why I'm ignoring you until LJ lets me back in. (It came back very briefly twice during the day, so I'm hopeful it will. But I can't report anything because I can't get in to report it.)

:-(


I am now going off to make sugarless scones (it's a thing I do), and try not to panic about it. I have a book. It doesn't seem to be giving me too much of a headache yet, so hey. There's that, I suppose. And I can write a bit maybe if I don't get too depressed about having nowhere to post it ever again. Luckily, my family phoned for five minutes just now before I died of isolation. (Can you do that in only one day? Probably not.)

Also also the doctor's mislabelled my blood test on Thursday and I have to go and give them some more on Monday. (I can't complain; they've never done anything like this before. But i would rather not have my two big outings for the week both being things where people stick needles in me.)


(I may be feeling sorry for myself now. This is what happens when people cruelly take LJ away from me.)

Comments

[aralias]

:( is it back?

hope the book is going ok!

here's a fun fandom secret i was looking at at the same time as reading this post -



it's not particularly relevant to you, but i thought it might amuse.

[justice_turtle]

*hugses* LJ deprivation is a very serious problem for those of us who socialize mainly on the internets. It's like having your whole neighborhood cancelled indefinitely. You can go downtown to Tumblr and wander around, but it's not the same. :P

*all the hugs*

(I have not yet selected a hug icon to upload. Bother. ;S)

[thisbluespirit]

No, it is not back! It has not been back all day. I rather suspect that probably, it being a holiday weekend, it won't be sorted till Monday, whatever it is. But maybe now that I type this, irony will strike and it will come back!

And thank you for the image/secret. It is indeed pleasing and amusing. :-)

[thisbluespirit]

*nods a lot*

It hasn't happened to me for ages and I sort of thought that I had at least quite a bit to look at on Dreamwidth, but actually I really don't.

I wrangled as well, but I only had about 10 tags. Which is quite a lot compared to some days, but still

*hugs you back gratefully*

(I am being silly, of course, but, argh, it's not funny, either!)

♥

You should go download a hug now! ;-)

[elviaprose]

Oh, no! So sorry to hear it! Let me know if there's anything I can do to keep you entertained.

[dbskyler]

Well, if LJ won't load for you, I'll just have to come hang out with you on Dreamwidth!

Did I tell you that I've started reading the Chronicles of Chrestomanci? I've read the first three books. It's been weird, because the lead characters keep changing between the books. After "Charmed Life," I expected Cat in "The Lives of Christopher Chant." Then after that book, I expected Christopher in "Magicians of Caprona" -- which he was in, I guess, but only peripherally. Next up is "Witch Week," and I have no expectations any longer, except that it will probably be good.

I also re-watched "Last Christmas" yesterday and I still think it's a really good Doctor Who episode.

Sugarless scones sound intriguing. I think I might like them with lemon curd. Are you enjoying your book? Hopefully it's not giving you a headache.

If you write something, you can post it to Dreamwdith! Or Teaspoon (if it's Whoniverse fic)! Or AO3! The internet will always have a place for you to post your fic. That's one thing the internet is very good at.

Sorry to hear about the mislabelling of your blood test. Maybe there's a plasmavore in the lab? Although having your blood sucked out through a straw sounds less painful than getting stuck with a needle. But at least the needle will be more hygienic, and a lot less fatal.

I hope you're feeling a little less isolated by now. If you keep having trouble with LJ, I will be happy to make up fake LJ posts and put them over here so you can pretend you're missing out on something far more exciting than you actually are. On second thought, perhaps I will instead make up exciting posts for Dreamwdith. Yes, that seems like the best course over all.

[dbskyler]

There's something about the way I type that makes me quicker at typing the "d" than the "i" in "Dreamwidth," so it keeps coming out as "Dreamwdith" instead. There's probably a study in there somewhere. Or at least a fic idea.

[vilakins]

I hate that cut-off feeling.

There are scone recipes with sugar? Huh. I like them non-sweet (and hot with butter).

[thisbluespirit]

Let me know if there's anything I can do to keep you entertained.

*resist the temptation to make unreasonable/silly requests* Talking to me is nice. That'll do. Thank you!! ♥

Oh, and I've been meaning to post this to unkindestslash, which I certainly can't at the moment. You've probably seen it already, but the other day on YouTUbe, this randomly turned up when I was looking for something else:

BBC 1969 Julius Caesar (Maybe in the absence of LJ I can try and watch it, though I'm not good at watching long things online. I watched a minute and it already had Christopher Benjamin in, aww.)

[thisbluespirit]

*nods* It's worse when you already are cut off in lots of other ways, too. You don't need to be pressed up against the window, looking in from a distance at the internet, too. Still, at least I can talk to some nice people on Dreamwidth in the meantime! \o/

There are scone recipes with sugar?

Traditional scones are sweet over here, and I suppose English scones are traditional scones, really. You get cheese scones (and variations on cheese scones), but making them randomly without sugar and with (half) wholemeal flour is a thing that gets me strange looks. I make them because it was a thing I did back when I had to go without yeast (and thus bread) for a while, and they're quite nice occasionally.

But, yeah, your ultimate traditional scone is the West Country one served with jam and clotted cream! (I hate clotted cream, but proper scones are rather nice with raspberry jam.)

[thisbluespirit]

*hugs you*

Did I tell you that I've started reading the Chronicles of Chrestomanci?

No, you didn't! I do remember that you were going to try DWJ, but I didn't know if you had or not, or maybe you hadn't said because you hadn't liked them. I take it from the above that you're enjoying them so far. (And Witch Week is definitely different again, probably the most different out of that series. ;-D)

Funnily enough, my book is also a DWJ, one of her adult ones, Deep Secret. I am really not sure whether or not I have read it before. I know I read the other Magids book (A Sudden Wild Magic), because I didn't like it at all. I never quite like DWJ's adult books as much as her YA books for some reason (except of course for The Tough Guide), but and thought I must have read, disliked, and forgotten this one, too, but I'd seen amusing quotes about stuff happening at an SFF Convention and I didn't remember that at all. I got it for my birthday last year, but I opened it up, looked at it, and got a headache, so I put it away. I must be feeling betterer, as I read (in bits) 134 pages without getting a headache yesterday. I shall probably thus have to be more careful about it today, or at least swap books or something, but still. It is encouraging. \o/

Also, there is indeed an SFF convention in it, and the first time someone reads the brochure for it, this happens:

"'Hobbits will be mustering under Gandalf as usual in the Ops Rooom,'" I read out... "...who are these people?"

"Ordinary folks having fun, I expect," he said. "Nobody's really normal when you come down to it." (♥)


And I know I can post fic here and to AO3 (and even Teaspoon), but I was writing some more for runaway_tales and though if LJ really vanished forever, I could post them here, they're written for prompts for the comm, and they're original fic. (I could post them to AO3, technically, as they're Original Work for a comm/challenge, but I think best not). I'd been stuck on them and writing Remixes and some other fannish bits, and was happy to be back - and now I can't get at the comm! But, yes, indeed, and if the weather cools down as predicted, maybe I should amuse myself by writing randomly generated ficlets or something.


I hope you're feeling a little less isolated by now. If you keep having trouble with LJ, I will be happy to make up fake LJ posts and put them over here so you can pretend you're missing out on something far more exciting than you actually are. On second thought, perhaps I will instead make up exciting posts for Dreamwdith. Yes, that seems like the best course over all.

♥ ♥ ♥

All this made me smile a lot this morning (and even be a little tearful, in the good way).

Which reminds me to say that when LJ vanished I was still trying to think of something to say about how good your last post was (and how I am very sorry about your friend (or acquaintance), but I hadn't yet. Consider me nodding a lot and admiring your coherence when expressing difficult things.

[vilakins]

They serve them with jam and cream (whipped) here too, but they're still not sweet themselves. I've made lovely wholemeal scones. In fact I'm feeling it's time to do so again even though they don't rise as well as plain flour ones.

[thisbluespirit]

Hee, I'm happy to have inspired some scone-making!

[still_lycoris]

Oh, that sucks! Well, I shall have to appear on here instead to make your life a little less dark. (I know it's not just you - someone else on my Flist is having the same problem but doesn't know how to fix it either ...

Good luck with sugarless scones! I hope they are tassty and delightful and make things better!

[thisbluespirit]

Thanks! :-)

I have seen other people around, before this, saying they couldn't get in and it lasted from anything from a day to a week, so I am assuming this is the same thing and it will come back. It's reassuring to know I'm not the only one currently suffering, though - LJ are much more likely to fix it that way!

The scones were good, thanks. I defeated the purpose and had one with honey on once they were made yesterday, but it was a nice thing to wind up the day with!

[still_lycoris]

I just looked at LJ Support and somebody else has reported it for a friend of theirs so that makes at least three people - so it should hopefully fix itself soon and hopefully will all sort through.

Pfft, honey is healthy. Probably?

[thisbluespirit]

That does sound encouraging. I shall await its return in the not too distant future... :-)

Honey is definitely healthier than if I put sugar in them in the first place and also better than me eating chocolate, so I think so.

[dbskyler]

I didn't try DWJ until fairly recently, so my silence was simply because I hadn't gotten around to it yet. But one of my new year's resolutions was to do more reading, and I've gotten back into the habit of reading before bed every night, which has been good in lots of ways. My first DWJ book was "Howl's Moving Castle." I've really gotten hooked by the Chrestomanci series, though! It also amuses me to realize that it was written way before Harry Potter. Where are the Chrestomanci movies? Why isn't this a blockbuster franchise?

Let me know if you think I should read "Deep Secret" next. I mean, it has an SFF convention in it, with mustering hobbits! Or are there other DWJ-for-adults books that you would recommend? (Besides "Tough Guide," which is still on my list?)

Thanks for the positive comments about my last post. It was really a case of having a lot of thoughts and feelings that I had to do something with, and writing them out and posting them on the internet was what I needed to do to get closure.

[astrogirl]

Oh, no! I hope LJ gives you back to us (and vice-versa) soon. I was going to ask if you'd put in a help ticket, or if you were able to, but I see someone above has said several of them already exist, so that's good, hopefully?

[thisbluespirit]

Thank you! I haven't been able to put in report, because I can't get in to do it. I'm kind of assuming that as the server's still in San Francisco's, it's a holiday weekend, and it'll get sorted soon now. But if it doesn't, I may need to ask someone to report it for me, because it is getting silly! I need it back by the 13th; I'm reccing on Calufrax!

[jjpor]

Well, that's no good at all...! :( Livejournal never ceases to be the cause of frustrations, but as you say not having access to it at all leaves you feeling at a loss. I had something happen a few months back where I could only log onto my own journal but couldn't look at any posts or my friends list - when I tried, it just brought me back to the main journal page. As I remember, it was only on Internet Explorer that this happened - I tried Chrome and everything seemed to be working fine. Maybe something to consider?

The other frustrating aspect is that without being able to log in at all, you can't even let them know there is a problem that they might be able to fix. :(

[thisbluespirit]

I@m back! (Or at least, for the moment!)

And, believe me, it lasted three days and I'd tried everything I could think of by the end of the first day - two other browsers, altering security settings. And then I knew that basically it was LJ being LJ as it does.

Your problem sounds v frustrating, too - I'm glad it got fixed! \o/

I'm now off back to LJ to enjoy it.

[thisbluespirit]

I've really gotten hooked by the Chrestomanci series, though! It also amuses me to realize that it was written way before Harry Potter. Where are the Chrestomanci movies? Why isn't this a blockbuster franchise?

LOL. I think a lot of people have asked that, and I really don't know. It's not even that HP had the hype - the first book was published by Bloomsbury, who were (pre-HP) a pretty small publisher comparatively & it spread by word of mouth. Another factor was that all of the Chrestomanci series were published by different publishers, and not obviously a series until after HP, when HarperCollins snapped them up and marketed them as a series properly (hence the Chronicles of Chrestomanci, which still seems weird to me, because they had no over-arching series title when I read them). Someone should definitely make some films, though. Christopher/Chrestomanci would be a fun character to bring to life, especially his elaborate dressing gowns!

I don't know what to make of Deep Secret myself yet, and it's actually a sequel to A Sudden Wild Magic, so I think you should keep on as you are. As I said, I am lot less comfortable with her adult novels for some reason, so I'm not the best person to ask, as a lot of people like them. If you want to try them, the Tough Guide and The Dark Lord of Derkholm are linked, and Derkholm is my favourite of her adult books. Otherwise, keep on with Chrestomanci! And then her wonderful one-offs like Dogsbody, The Time of the Ghost, Archer's Goon, Fire & Hemlock, A Tale of Time City, Homeward Bounders, and The Ogre Downstairs. For my money, those are the very best of her & include my favourites. I'm less keen on the adult novels and all the outright fantasy ones, like the Dalemark Quartet. (But again - a lot of people like them. To my mystification, they're always getting nominated in exchanges!) I think one of the things with her is that her books do tend to be quite different, even though her style's recognisable throughout, that almost everybody has at least one of her books and/or series that they really react against. You'll have to see if that happens to you and which one it is, if it does!

[elviaprose]

Ooh, I will definitely watch that JC! I thought I'd seen every 20th c production available! I've seen the 1950, 1953, 1970 (argh, Jason Robards WHY), and, of course, 1979, but I haven't seen this. Thank you so much for this!

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, cool! I hadn't seen it around before, but some of those anthology plays are beginning to be released. And the info says it has Edward Woodward and Robert Stephens, which sounds pretty promising. :-)

(Btw, the BBC seems to be planning for 2016 to make all its surviving Shakespeare content available on the web; I don't know what the deal will be as to who can access it & how freely, but it could well include other one-off anthology plays like this, as well as radio - and there were definitely a few other Julius Caesars that the Radio Times archive showed had been made. Presumably any existing would be in the collection, whereas individual DVD releases wouldn't be worth their while. Could be very interesting!)


And I must post this to unkindestslash now, then, mustn't I?