So. I am:

a) still sick
b) going to Finland in two weeks.

You would think those two things would be mutually exclusive - I wish those two things were mutually exclusive, with being sick the thing that was excluded. But there you have it. I'm going to Finland (and Sweden and Denmark and Russia and then Japan) where I am going to DIE, DIE like the wimpy cold-hating Australian that I am.

I dunno - I really am going to die of cold and exhaustion, but I'm pretty damn excited anyway. I'm going to see ballet in St Petersburg - I could not make this up. BALLET IN ST PETERSBURG. That's something straight off my list of things to do before I die. And not just that - Tivoli Gardens, Christmas in Stockholm, Nothern Lights (maybe! if we're really lucky), and then Japan. Kyoto, Hiroshima, Tokyo... as;lkfasdflk I cannot believe this. It's too good to be true. I wouldn't believe it at all if I didn't already have evidence of my rapidly decreasing bank account. as;dlkfjasdfk SO EXPENSIVE haha. It'll totally be worth it though. <3 <3 <3

Also, this morning my mum was hit in the face by a pine cone dropped by a cockatoo. Geez, speaking of things you couldn't make up...

Eight Deep-Fried Turkey Disaster Videos

You know what really amazes me about this? There are people in this world who want to deep-fry a turkey. I'm pretty sure that breaks some cardinal culinary rule, like: thou shall not attempt to deep-fry any animal larger than a saucepan.

Regarding Roman Polanski: um, he raped a kid. That's kind of unforgiveable. But what's the use of sending an old man to jail? He's not likely to reoffend, so it wouldn't protect the community, and if he hasn't learnt by now nothing is going to teach him better. I think the best possible outcome would be if they made him pay some exorbitant amount of money to the woman he raped - I think she's owed recompense not only for the original crime, but also for the thirty years he's made her wait for closure.

The time when you come home from a party to a dark, silent house and turn the kitchen light on, put on the kettle, kick off your heels and pad around the kitchen in stockinged feet.

So, I was thinking about Prince of Tennis while I was walking home from my cousin's house, which can be interpreted in two ways:

( tennis, space laser cannons, statistical proof of the existence of fairies )

Aaaaaah I'm an idiot. I've been puzzled for ages by the fact that the rich text editor seemed to have disappeared, but I just realised that NoScript was blocking part of the update page. Iiiiiidiot.

Not that I have anything important to post. I am currently:

a) waiting for the Australia/England Twenty20 match to start in England. My household doesn't have pay TV, so I have to follow the ball-by-ball text commentary on cricinfo, eheu. Well, it's charming in its own way.

b) reading my way through the online stories for the Cambridge Latin Course, in an effort to improve the speed of my reading comprehension. I'm learning some neat vocab, too. Furcifer! Pestis! Fur! But I'm a little baffled by the level of violence - a disproportionate percentage of the stories seem to involve people being brutally murdered.

c) drinking Earl Grey tea. With neither milk nor sugar - I've never taken milk in my tea, because I don't like the texture, but I used to take two sugars. I quit a few weeks ago, and at first I craved really sweet tea every night, but that's pretty much history. Hurrah! My teeth will thank me, and as a reward I'll buy myself some China Keemun and Darjeeling and replace my finished stock of Russian Caravan, which I miss. Other possibilities: Monks and rooibos.

But, I confess, I have some Turkish Apple instant tea (is it even a real tea? I doubt it), which comes with premixed sugar, and I still drink that, and it is delicious. 'Nature identical apple flavour', mmm.

EDIT: No, wait, I've got radio commentary through the BBC site. Three cheers for the internet! And what's up with Australia's ridiculously poor luck? They've called the coin toss wrong in, what, six out of the last eight matches?

1/2 Prince (manga) : 1/2 Prince (translated novels)

( I want to kill monsters to my heart's content )

Short version: virtual reality, gender bending, feminism = things I like.

I'm feeling crazy anxious at the moment and I don't know why. It's okay when I stop and breathe deeply and talk to myself firmly about acknowledging irrational feelings and staying positive, but as soon as I turn my attention to anything else it sneaks back up on me, and next thing I know it feels like there's an anvil sitting on my chest. I'm constantly stressed and constantly scared.

I just want to shake myself and say calm the fuck down. Seriously, is there anything to be scared of? Pull yourself together.

AHHHHH why can I not be coherent about these chapters I DON'T KNOW they just keep pushing all my buttons. Buttons pushed this chapter:

• plot holes turn out not to be plot holes!
• bad guys act intelligently and competently!
• politics!
• focus on adults!

I think the focus on adults is one of the main reasons why each chapter reduces me to incoherent flailing at the moment. I've always been more interested in the adults in Naruto - the Chuunin exam arc was one of my favourites, because I was fascinated by the examiners. I love it when the world of Naruto is fleshed out, so for me that arc was the point where I made the mental switch between 'pretty Japanese-style country populated by superpowered kids' to 'actual world with politics and economy and adults going about their own lives'.

I am bizarrely, possibly obsessively interested in the everyday lives of Naruto ninjas. How much do they earn for missions? Who pays for all those hospital stays? What's the ratio of genin to chuunin to jounin? What's the ratio of ninja to civilians in Konoha? How do you get promoted to jounin? What do the ANBU actually do? How is the Hokage chosen? - a recent chapter gave us the answer to the last question, and it made me SO HAPPY.

I know a lot of people have complained about the sudden turn the series took from 'dumb strong kid wants to be Hokage, can he overcome his enemies?!' to 'dumb strong kid wants to be Hokage, realises that an economy based on war makes true peace impossible, can he find a solution to the great moral question of his age?!' and I can see their point, but personally? I like this new Naruto so much more.

Yeah, so, the white shirt and white knitted vest the Australian cricketers wear really does it for me. 'Charmingly old-fashioned' may not sound like the highest praise on earth, but it is a sure-fire way to my heart.

Three and a half things about the Wimbledon final:

( tennis tragic is tragic )

(format borrowed from copperbadge )

Title: Rest for the Weary, chapter five
Fandom: Naruto/Harry Potter crossover
Wordcount: c.3000
A/N: Rocks fall, everyone dies. Ha, I wish. Nothing happens in this chapter, but I had to get Harry back into Konoha somehow.

( Chapter Five )

Editing now, which is always depressing. It wasn't until I reread this chapter that I realised the tone change is drastic enough to give you whiplash. Also, I've been spelling Tsukuyomi wrong, thank goodness I checked, and at one point it went from afternoon to night in the space of three minutes - hopefully fixed now. And in other editing news, I completely forgot that Madara had been the Mizukage. I'm going to have to rewrite part of Human Endeavour to somehow make that fit. Maybe- I dunno. More research is called for.

Anyway, still not studying, here's a chapter of Second Chances, revived from the dead! (Why did I choose such a boring name, seriously?) All comments and criticism will be met with streamers and party favours, ie. please.

Title: Second Chances, chapter five
Fandom: Harry Potter/Naruto crossover
Wordcount: c.5000
Rating: M for violence and swearing

( Second Chances )

Astoundingly, in the last week I've finished chapters of Rest for the Weary, Second Chances, the epic Naruto timetravel thing I'm calling Human Endeavour and one of my original projects. It's like the amount I write increases exponentially - I write when I'm sick, and I write when I'm supposed to be studying, so when I'm sick and supposed to be studying I get S x S = lots?

Or alternatively, I've spent the last six days in bed and our internet was gone for two of them (WOE) and I'm going stir crazy over here adslfkj; STIR CRAZY.

I know I'm flailing about Naruto a lot at the moment, but I'm just so happy with it. I was very meh about the whole Pein arc, and this new arc is suddenly so unreservedly awesome that it's like falling in love all over again. Naruto 451 = love. Now, if only Bleach would do the same..

Anyway, this fic is unrelated, except by fandom. Untitled feminist genderswitch, ahoy!

Fandom: Naruto
Characters: Haruno Sakuma (Sakura); Yamanaka Iori (Ino)
A/N: Because I am on a feminist kick at the moment, and it occurred to me that series wide genderswitch never really addresses the social implications. In other words, if being a ninja was a female-dominated profession, would it also be a low-status profession?

( genderswitch )

Without spoilers: so cool. so cool. so cool.

With (major) spoilers:

( So freaking cool. )

Anyway, I'm mostly posting this here to prove that I am, in fact, still alive. Hi.

Title: Nice Kitty
Fandom: Naruto
Characters: Raidou, Genma, Naruto
Notes: written for imepic 

( Nice Kitty )

In my serious case of post-partyitis (hey, I danced from half-seven last night until 2am this morning straight, then had to be back cleaning the hall by nine, if anyone has ever deserved a day of post-partyitis it's me) (also, thank god I don't drink, that would really have made today unpleasant), I've spent the afternoon in bed reading fanfiction for shows I know nothing about.

Not that that makes any difference. This? I actually cackled out loud. Pretty much the entire time, in fact, and we're talking 45 thousand words. This story made me so, so happy.

Drastically Redefining Protocol by rageprufrock

Fandom is Merlin, pairing Arthur/Merlin, which tells me exactly zero but didn't impair my enjoyment one bit. Romance! Bitchiness! Prince falls in love with (male) commoner! Gay marriage! Serious discussion of the political ramifications of previously mentioned gay marriage! Pitch perfect imitations of everything from AP new articles to tabloid articles to a fantastic epilogue in the form of a Vanity Fair article, and oh my god, the story is worth reading just for the multimedia. I writhed in jealousy at the fake NY Times website article - how do people do that? I want to be able to do that. And don't get me started on the photoshop -